Supreme Court Oath of Office: Texts, Administration, and Ceremony

A new Supreme Court justice takes two Supreme Court oaths of office before beginning work: the Constitutional Oath required of nearly all federal officials, and the Judicial Oath specific to judges. Both are set by statute, both are typically administered by the Chief Justice, and together they are what legally seat a justice on the bench.

The Two Oaths a Justice Takes

The requirement traces to Article VI, Clause 3 of the Constitution, which binds federal and state officers “by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.”¹ For a justice, that general command is carried out through two distinct texts.

The Constitutional Oath is codified at 5 U.S.C. § 3331 and applies to every federal employee except the President. The justice says:

“I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”²

The Judicial Oath comes from Section 8 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and now sits at 28 U.S.C. § 453:

“I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [title] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”³

The Judicial Oath’s current wording dates to December 1990, when the Judicial Improvements Act replaced the older phrase “according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution” with “under the Constitution and laws of the United States.” Some appointees take a combined version that folds both oaths into one statement.³

Who Administers the Oaths and Where

No statute dictates who must swear a justice in. John Jay, the first Chief Justice, took his oaths before the chief justice of New York, and James Wilson was sworn in by the Mayor of Philadelphia in 1789.⁴

The modern practice is more settled. The Chief Justice usually administers the Constitutional Oath in a private ceremony, often in the justices’ conference room, shortly after confirmation. The Judicial Oath follows later at a formal investiture in the courtroom, though sometimes the Chief Justice administers both. Presidents have at times hosted their own ceremonies at the White House, a practice Ronald Reagan revived in 1986. Not every justice is comfortable with it. Justice John Paul Stevens believed a justice should be sworn in only at the Court out of respect for separation of powers, but when he administered both oaths to Chief Justice John Roberts at the White House in 2005, he reasoned that declining would be read as disapproval of the appointment itself.⁵

The Investiture Ceremony

The formal investiture tradition started under Chief Justice Warren Burger, with the first held for Justice Harry Blackmun on June 9, 1970.⁴ During the ceremony, the attorney general presents the new justice’s commission, the clerk reads it aloud, and the justice takes the Judicial Oath. The justice is then escorted to the bench and seated at the far right, the position reserved for the most junior member. By custom, the Chief Justice welcomes the newcomer by wishing them “a long and happy career in our common calling.”⁵

Before taking that seat, the justice is escorted to a mahogany chair used by Chief Justice John Marshall from 1819 to 1835, believed to be the work of Washington, D.C. cabinetmaker Benjamin Belt and likely built to replace furniture lost when the British burned the Capitol in 1814. It has been part of every investiture since 1972.⁶

A family member or close friend typically holds a Bible during the oath. Natalie Rehnquist held the Bible for her husband William when he was sworn in as Chief Justice in 1986, and Patrick Jackson held the Bible for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022.³ The Bible is tradition, not law. Article VI expressly bars any religious test for federal office.¹

Affirming Instead of Swearing

Both oath texts include the parenthetical “or affirm.” A justice who objects to swearing an oath on religious or conscientious grounds may affirm instead. James Madison proposed adding “or Affirmation” at the Constitutional Convention on August 30, 1787, and the proposal passed unanimously; the first oath statute, signed by President Washington on June 1, 1789, carried the option forward.⁷

The phrase “So help me God” appears in the statutory text of both oaths. No case has squarely tested its use in the judicial oath. In Newdow v. Roberts (2010), the D.C. Circuit dismissed a challenge to the phrase in the presidential oath on standing and mootness grounds; then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence arguing the phrase is a longstanding, non-proselytizing tradition akin to the legislative prayer upheld in Marsh v. Chambers (1983).⁸ In the naturalization context, the First Circuit rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to the same phrase in Perrier-Bilbo v. United States (2020), reasoning that because a modified version is available to those who object, the oath is neither coercive nor an endorsement of religion.⁹

Notable Variations in How Justices Have Been Sworn In

The ceremony has bent to circumstance more than once.

Frank Murphy, in 1940, was the first justice to take the Constitutional Oath at the White House, an event the press described as “without precedent.”⁴
Antonin Scalia, in 1986, took oaths from two different Chief Justices on the same day: retiring Chief Justice Burger gave him the Constitutional Oath at the White House, and newly elevated Chief Justice Rehnquist gave him the Judicial Oath at the Court.⁴
Anthony Kennedy, in 1988, took his oaths four times in one day across private, investiture, and White House settings.⁵
Stephen Breyer, in 1994, took both oaths at Chief Justice Rehnquist’s Vermont summer home, more than a week before his formal White House ceremony.⁵
Samuel Alito, in 2006, took both oaths privately hours after his Senate confirmation so he could attend President Bush’s State of the Union that night, and took the Constitutional Oath again at the White House the next day.⁵
Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were the first justices whose oath ceremonies were televised from the Supreme Court Building, in 2009 and 2010; President Obama held no White House ceremonies for either.⁴⁵
Ketanji Brown Jackson’s ceremony on June 30, 2022 was the first live-streamed on the Court’s website. Chief Justice Roberts administered the Constitutional Oath and retiring Justice Breyer administered the Judicial Oath in the Court’s West Conference Room. Jackson became the 104th Associate Justice and the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.¹⁰¹¹¹²

What Happens If a Justice Violates the Oath

The Constitution does not list specific penalties for breaking an oath, but it supplies the accountability structure. Federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, hold office during “good behaviour” under Article III, and impeachment is the sole route to removal. The Senate has removed eight federal judges in American history, for offenses including perjury, tax evasion, public intoxication on the bench, and abandoning office to join the Confederacy.¹³

Federal judges are not immune from criminal prosecution while in office. Courts have held that criminal conduct falls outside a judge’s official duties, and that requiring impeachment first would improperly place judges above the law.¹³ A conviction, however, does not by itself remove a judge from the bench. Only Congress can do that.

1
Constitution Annotated. Article VI
2
Cornell Law Institute. 5 U.S.C. § 3331 – Oath of Office
3
Supreme Court of the United States. Oaths of Office
4
Supreme Court of the United States. Oaths – History and Traditions
5
SCOTUSblog. Confirmation Oaths and Ceremonies
6
Supreme Court of the United States. John Marshall Chair Information
7
Heritage Foundation. Article VI, Clause 3
8
SCOTUSblog. Judge Kavanaugh on Law and Religion Issues
9
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Perrier-Bilbo v. United States
10
Supreme Court of the United States. Constitutional Oath Ceremony – Justice Jackson
11
Supreme Court of the United States. Investiture of Justice Jackson
12
NPR. Ketanji Brown Jackson Sworn In to Supreme Court
13
Constitution Annotated. Article III, Section 1 – Impeachment of Judges