Best Chief Justice

Beverley McLachlin was a prominent Canadian jurist who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 2000 to 2017. Her tenure represents the longest in that role’s history, totaling over seventeen years. McLachlin's leadership shaped significant legal decisions impacting areas such as...

John Marshall served as the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 until his death in 1835. His tenure profoundly shaped American law by establishing the concept of judicial review, allowing the court to declare laws unconstitutional. This solidified the role of the judiciary within the...

Anthony Mason served as Chief Justice of Australia from 1987 to 1995, presiding over a court that produced landmark rulings expanding implied constitutional rights and reshaping Australian public law.

Lemuel Shaw was an American jurist who served as the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1830 to 1860. During his tenure, he authored decisions that significantly shaped United States common law, particularly regarding contract disputes, labor relations, and corporate liab...

Sir Gerard Brennan was an Australian lawyer and jurist who served as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1995 to 1998. During his tenure on the High Court, he authored the leading judgment in the landmark 1992 case Mabo v Queensland (No 2). This ruling overturned the long-standing doct...

Earl Warren served as the 14th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969. His tenure marked a significant shift in judicial interpretation, particularly regarding civil rights and liberties. He oversaw several landmark cases that redefined constitutional law, notably Brown v. Board of Edu...

Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati was an Indian jurist who served as the 17th Chief Justice of India from 1985 to 1986. He is widely recognized for his role in pioneering public interest litigation (PIL) in India, introducing legal mechanisms that relaxed strict rules of standing to allow marginali...

Dame Sian Elias is a New Zealand jurist who served as Chief Justice from 1999 to 2019, becoming the first woman appointed to lead the court. Born in 1949, she was appointed to the High Court of New Zealand in 1995. When the Supreme Court of New Zealand was established in 2004, replacing the Judicial...

Robert Shenton French is an Australian jurist who served as the 12th Chief Justice of Australia from 2008 to 2017. Appointed to the High Court of Australia by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, he was notably the first person from Western Australia to hold the position. Prior to his elevation to the High Co...

Pius Langa was a prominent South African jurist who served as Chief Justice of South Africa from 2005 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed to the newly established Constitutional Court in 1994, he later became its Deputy President before ascending to the position of Chief Justice. Before his lega...

Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud is an Indian jurist who served as the 50th Chief Justice of India from November 2022 to November 2024. He is the son of Y. V. Chandrachud, who previously served as the 16th and longest-serving Chief Justice of India, making them the only father-son pair to have held t...

Anthony Murray Gleeson is an Australian jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of Australia from 1998 to 2008. Prior to his appointment to the High Court of Australia by Prime Minister John Howard, he served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1988 to 1998. Through...

Salmon P. Chase was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth Chief Justice of the United States from 1864 until his death in 1873. Appointed by President Abraham Lincoln, Chase previously served as Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury during the American Civil War, where he establish...

Raymond Zondo is a South African jurist who served as Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa from 2022 to 2024. He was appointed to the Constitutional Court in 2012 and gained national prominence as the chair of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, which investigated systemic corrupt...

Susan Kiefel is an Australian jurist who served as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from November 2017 until her retirement in November 2023. She was the first woman to hold the position of Chief Justice of Australia. Appointed to the High Court in 2007, she had previously served as a ju...

Stephen Gageler is an Australian jurist who currently serves as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, a position he assumed in November 2023. Appointed to the High Court as a Justice in 2012, he brought extensive constitutional and administrative law experience from his previous tenure a...

Charles Evans Hughes was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. His earlier offices included governor of New York, associate justice of the Supreme Court, and United States secretary of state. Hughes was also the Republ...

William H. Rehnquist was an American jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1972 until his death in 2005. President Richard Nixon appointed him as an associate justice, and President Ronald Reagan elevated him to chief justice in 1986. Associated with judicial conservatism...

William Rehnquist served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1972 before being elevated to Chief Justice by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, holding the position until his death in 2005. He was known for his conservative judicial philosophy, advocacy of federalism, and views favor...

John G. Roberts Jr. is an American jurist who has served as the Chief Justice of the United States since his appointment by President George W. Bush in 2005. As Chief Justice, he presides over the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary, frequently emphasizing principles of judicial minimalism and i...

Helen Winkelmann is a New Zealand jurist who was appointed Chief Justice of New Zealand in 2019, becoming the 13th person and second woman to hold the country's highest judicial office. Prior to her appointment as Chief Justice, she served as Chief High Court Judge from 2015 to 2019 and was a judge...

William Howard Taft was an American politician and jurist who served as the 27th President of the United States from 1909 to 1913. He is distinguished as the only person in U.S. history to have held both the presidency and the position of Chief Justice of the United States. In 1921, President Warren...

Harlan Fiske Stone (1872-1946) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as the 12th Chief Justice of the United States from 1941 until his death in 1946. Prior to his appointment as Chief Justice by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Stone served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1...

John G. Roberts Jr. is the 17th Chief Justice of the United States, appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed in 2005 at the age of 50, making him among the youngest chief justices in American history. Educated at Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Roberts previously served in the Rea...

Edward Douglass White was an American lawyer and politician who served as the ninth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1910 until 1921. Prior to his appointment as Chief Justice, he served as an Associate Justice and as a U.S. Senator from Louisiana. His tenure on the Supreme Cour...

Sanjiv Khanna is an Indian jurist who serves as a judge of the Supreme Court of India and became Chief Justice of India in November 2024, succeeding Justice D.Y. Chandrachud. He is the nephew of Justice H.R. Khanna, the Supreme Court judge renowned for his solo dissent in the landmark Habeas Corpus...

Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud was an Indian jurist who served as the 16th Chief Justice of India. His tenure from February 1978 to July 1985 remains the longest of any Chief Justice in the country's history. During his time on the Supreme Court of India, he presided over several significant constituti...

Oliver Ellsworth was an American statesman from Connecticut who served as the third Chief Justice of the United States from 1796 to 1800. He was a principal drafter of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the federal court system's structure and jurisdiction. Ellsworth also served as a deleg...

Edward Douglass White was an American jurist who served on the United States Supreme Court from 1894 until his death in 1921, first as an associate justice and then, from 1910, as chief justice. President William Howard Taft made him the first sitting associate justice elevated directly to chief jus...