Justices of Kentucky's Highest Court: The Court of Appeals (1792-1975) & Supreme Court (1976-present)

The list maintained by the Kentucky Court of Justice may reflect more recent appointments than are recorded here.

Court of Appeals | New Court | Reconstituted Court of Appeals | 1895 Reorganization | Supreme Court

Court of Appeals

Harry Innes, 1792 (Chief Justice, 1792)
Benjamin Sebastian, 1792-1806
Caleb Wallace, 1792-1813
George Muter, 1792-1806 (CJ 1792-1806)
Thomas Todd, 1801-1807 (CJ 1806-1807)
Felix Grundy, 1806-1808 (CJ 1807-1808)
Ninian Edwards, 1806-1809 (CJ 1808-1809)
Robert Trimble, 1807-1809
William Logan, 1808; 1810-1818
George M.Bibb, 1808-1809 (CJ 1809; 1827-1828)
John Boyle, 1809-1827 (CJ 1810-1827)
James Clarke, 1810-1812
William Owsley, 1812-1828
John Rowan, 1819
Benjamin Mills, 1820-1828


The 1825 Supreme Court or "New Court"

William T. Barry, 1825
James Haggin, 1825
John Trimble, 1825
Benjamin W. Patton, 1825
Rezin Davidge, 1825


Reconstituted Court of Appeals

George Robertson, 1828-42; 1864-71 (CJ 1829-42; 1870-71)
J. R. Underwood, 1828-1834
R. A. Buckner, 1829-1832
Samuel S. Nicholas, 1831-1834
Iphraim M. Ewing 1835-1846 (CJ 1843-1846)
John Chambers, appointed 1835, declined office
T. A. Marshall, 1835-1856 (CJ 1847-1851; 1854-1856)
Daniel Breck, 1843-1849
James Simpson, 1847-1860 (CJ 1851-1852; 1858-1860)
Asher W. Graham, 1849-1851
B. Mills Crenshaw, 1851-1857 (CJ 1856-1857)
Elijah Hise, 1851-1854 (CJ 1852-1854)
Henry J.Stites, 1854-1862 (CJ 1860-1862)
Alvin Duvall, 1856-1864 (CJ 1862-1864)
Zachariah Wheat, 1857-1858 (CJ 1857-1858)
Henry C. Wood, 1858-1861
Belvard J. Peters, 1860-1876 (CJ 1866-1868; 1874-1876)
Joshua F. Bullitt, 1861-1865 (CJ 1864-1865)
Rufus K. Williams, 1862-1870 (CJ 1868-1870)
William Sampson, 1865-1866 (CJ 1865-1866)
M. R. Hardin, 1866-1874 (CJ 1872-1874)
William Lindsay, 1870-1878 (CJ 1876-1878)
William S. Pryor, 1871-1897 (CJ 1871-72; 1878-80, 1886-88, 1895-97)
Martin H. Cofer, 1874-1881 (CJ 1880-1881)
John M. Elliott, 1876-1879
Thomas H. Hines, 1878-1886 (CJ 1884-1886)
T. F. Hargis, 1879-1884 (CJ 1882-1884)
Joseph H. Lewis, 1881-1899 (CJ 1881-1882; 1888-1890; 1897-1899)
William H. Holt, 1884-1893 (CJ 1890-1893)
Caswell Bennett, 1886-1894 (CJ 1893-1894)
J. H. Hazelrigg 1893-1901 (CJ 1899-1901)
Isaac M. Quigley, 1894-1895 (CJ 1894-1895)


Reorganization 1895 (as result of new Constitution)

John R. Grace,1895-1896
B. L. D. Guffy, 1895-1903 (CJ 1902-1903)
Sterling B. Toney, appointed 1895, declined to qualify
T. H. Paynter, 1895-1906 (CJ 1901-1902)
George B. Estin, 1895
George Durelle, 1895-1903
Joseph I. Landes, 1896
James D. White, 1896-1903
A. R. Burnam, 1897-1905 (CJ 1903-1905)
John P. Hobson, 1899-1915 (CJ 1905-1907; 1911-1915)
Ed C. O'Rear, 1901-1911 (CJ 1907-1909)
W. E. Settle, 1903-1927 (CJ 1909; 1917-1919; 1925)
T. J. Nunn, 1903-1904 (CJ 1909-1910)
Henry S. Barker, 1903-1911 (CJ 1910-1911)
James E. Cantrill, 1905-1907
John M. Lassing, 1906-1913
John D. Carroll, 1907-1921 (CJ 1919-1921)
Shackelford Miller, 1911-1919 (1915-1917)
Robert H. Winn, 1911-1912
C. C. Turner, 1912-1917
J. B. Hannah, 1913-1915
C. S. Nunn, 1914-1915
Rollin Hurt, 1915-1923 (CJ 1921-1923)
Ernest S. Clarke, 1915-1926 (CJ 1925-1926)
Gus Thomas, 1915-1952 (CJ 1926-1927; 1929-1931)
Flem D. Sampson, 1917-1927 (CJ 1923-1925)
Huston Quin, 1919-1921
William Rogers Clay, 1921-1938 (CJ 1927-1929; 1935-1937)
C. H. Moorman, 1921-1923
D. A. McCandless, 1923-1929 (CJ Jan-Nov. 1929)
H. W. Robinson, 1923-1924
Jos. T. O'Neal, 1924
R. P. Dietzman, 1924-1935 (CJ 1931-1933)
C. W. Goodpaster, 1926
William H. Rees, 1926-1951 (CJ 1933-1935; 1941-1942; 1945-1947)
M. M. Logan, 1927-1931 (CJ 1931)
Simeon S. Willis, 1928-1933
William S. Grigsby, 1929-1931
Basil Richardson, 1931-1937 (CJ 1937)
A. J. Bratcher, 1931
Wesley Vick Perry, 1931-1943 (CJ 1942-1943)
Alex L. Ratliff, 1933-1944 (CJ 1937-1938; 1939-1941)
James W. Stites, 1935-1939 (CJ 1938-1939)
Virgil H. Baird, 1937-1938
James W. Cammack, 1938-1953 (CJ 1944-1945; 1951-1953)
Will H. Fulton 1938-1944 (CJ 1943-1944)
Henry J. Tilford 1939-1945 (CJ 1945)
Porter Sims, 1943-1959 (CJ 1947-1951; 1953-1954)
E. Poe Harris, 1944-1945
B. J. Bethurum appointed 1944, declined to qualify
Clyde B. Latimer, 1944-1952
Thomas S. Dawson, 1945-1947
Eugene Siler, 1945-1949
Thomas J. Knight, 1947-1951
Roy Helm, 1949-1951
James B. Milliken, 1951-1975 (CJ 1956-1957; 1963-1964; 1971-1973)
John R. Moremen, 1951-1966 (CJ 1957-1964; 1965-1966)
Brady M. Stewart, 1951-1967 (CJ 1954-1956; 1962-1963)
Bert T. Combs, 1951-1955
Parker W. Duncan, 1952-1954
Morris C. Montgomery, 1954-1969 (CJ 1959-1960; 1968-1969)
Astor Hogg, 1955-1957
Robert B. Bird, 1957-1965 (CJ 1960-1962)
Amos H. Eblen, 1958-1960
Thomas E. Sandidge 1959
Squire N. Williams, Jr, 1959-1969 (CJ 1967-1968)
John S. Palmore, 1959-1975 (CJ 1966-1967; 1973-1974)
Edward P. Hill, 1965-1973 (CJ 1969-1971)
Samuel S. Steinfeld, 1967-1973 (CJ 1972-1973)
Earl T. Osborne, 1967-1975 (CJ 1974-1975)
C. Homer Niekirk, 1969-1973


Kentucky Supreme Court 1976-

Scott Reed, 1969-1977 (CJ 1975-1977)*
James B. Stephenson, 1973-1988*
Pleas Jones, 1973-1979*
Boyce G. Clayton, 1975 -1983*
Marvin J. Sternberg, 1975-1982*
Robert O. Lukowsky, 1975-1981*
*Originally elected to old Court of Appeals; continued as justices of the Supreme Court.
J. Calvin Aker, 1979-1986
John J. Hara, 1981-1982
Robert F. Stephens, 1982-1999 (CJ 1983-1998)
Roy. N. Vance, 1983-1991
William S. Gant, 1983-1991
Charles M. Leibson, 1983-1995
Donald C. Wintersheimer, 1983-
John D. White, 1986
Joseph E. Lambert, 1987-2008 (CJ 1998-2008)
Dan Jack Combs, 1989-1993
Thomas B. Spain, 1991-1995
Charles H. Reynolds, 1991-1996
Sara W. Combs, 1993
Janet Stumbo, 1993-2004
William Fuqua, 1995
William Graves, 1996-2006
Nicholas King, 1995-1996
Martin E. Johnstone, 1996-2007
Walter Baker, 1996
William S. Cooper, 1997-2006
James Keller, 2000-2005
Will T. Scott, 2004-2015
John C. Roach, 2005-2007
Wil Schroder, 2006-2014
William McAnulty, 2006-2007,
John D. Minton, Jr., 2006- (CJ 2008- )
Mary C. Noble, 2007-
Bill Cunningham, 2007-
Lisabeth Hughes Abramson 2007-
Daniel Venters, 2008-
Michelle Keller, 2013-
David Allen Barber, 2015
Samuel T. Wright III, 2015-

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