Every justice of Maine's highest court since statehood in 1820: who served, when they were appointed, which governor appointed them, and that governor's party.
Seats on the court each year, colored by the party of the governor who signed each justice's most recent commission on file (snapshot July 1). Hover a year for the names. Known gap: seven-year reappointments between the mid-1930s and 2016 are not yet on file, so in those years a justice reappointed by a governor of another party still appears under the governor who first appointed them.
Elevation to chief justice counts as a new commission. Seven-year reappointments are included from 1861 through 1932 (the Law Library's list) and for two recent justices (Jabar 2017, Mead 2021). Reappointments between the mid-1930s and 2016 are not yet on file, so in those years a justice reappointed by a governor of another party is still shown under the earlier appointer. Seat totals are derived from appointment and departure dates; brief vacancies and overlaps at changeovers can move a year's total by one.
Every governor who appointed at least one justice. The count includes new appointments, elevations to chief justice and reappointments on file.
chief justices have led the court. Most were elevated from the associate bench; the rest were appointed directly.
| # | Chief Justice | Chief from | Appointed by | Left office | How |
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Numbered in order of appointment (Cleaves Law Library numbering, extended past 2021). Residence is as of appointment. ◆ marks an entry where sources disagree; hover it for the note.
| # | Justice | Residence | Appointed | Appointed by | Chief Justice | Left office | How |
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The Supreme Judicial Court was created by Maine's 1820 Constitution and seated on July 1, 1820, with Prentiss Mellen of Portland as chief justice and William Pitt Preble and Nathan Weston Jr. as associate justices, all appointed by Governor William King.
Justices are appointed by the governor. Under the 1820 Constitution they served during good behavior until age 70, which is why Chief Justice Mellen had to leave the bench in 1834. A constitutional amendment in 1839 replaced that with seven-year terms, with no limit on reappointment. For most of the state's history appointments required the consent of the Governor's Executive Council; since that body was abolished, nominations go to the Legislature's Judiciary Committee and must be confirmed by the State Senate.
The Constitution also lets the Legislature remove a judge "by address." It did so to Justice Woodbury Davis in 1856, during the party realignment of the 1850s; he was reappointed the following year.
Sitting as the Law Court, it is Maine's court of last resort. It is one of the few state high courts that issues advisory opinions on request of the Governor or the Legislature, and it also rules on the governor's fitness to serve if the Secretary of State certifies an incapacity. It sat mainly in Augusta until 1970, when it moved to the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland; it now hears arguments in Portland, Augusta, Bangor and at schools around the state.
A few milestones: Caroline Duby Glassman became the first woman on the court in 1983, and Leigh Saufley the first woman chief justice in 2001. Rick Lawrence became the first Black justice in 2022. Governor Llewellyn Powers appointed his own brother, Frederick, in 1900. Chief Justice Daniel Wathen resigned in 2001 to run for governor, while two former governors, Albion Parris and Edward Kent, later sat on the court.
With Governor Mills's appointment of Christopher Taub in 2026, every sitting justice holds a commission from the same governor: six she appointed and Andrew Mead, first appointed by Governor Baldacci, whom she reappointed in 2021.
Primary lists: Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library, Maine Supreme Court Chief and Associate Justices (rev. May 10, 2021), which records every appointment, reappointment and departure; and Cleaves Law Library, The Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine, 1820 to 2021 (chronological list and biographies). Where the two agree the date is used as printed. Where they differ, the date that fits the rest of the record (a reappointment seven years later, a vacancy filled the same day) is used and the entry carries a ◆ note. Appointing governors are checked against the governor in office on each commission date. Justices since 2021 are from the Office of the Governor's announcements and contemporary reporting. Court structure: Maine Constitution of 1820 and its 1839 amendment.
Party is the appointing governor's party. Early governors are shown as Democratic-Republican (King, Lincoln) or Whig (Kent, Crosby); Anson Morrill (1855) was elected by an anti-slavery, temperance fusion that became the Republican Party and is shown as Republican.