Quick! How many Supreme Court justices can you name?

By Dan Nied

Apparently I am smarter than you. Well, maybe. Actually, I just pay attention to government. That's why I know, for the most part, who is on the U.S. Supreme Court. Why does that make me smarter than you? Well, according to this item from legalcurrent.com nearly two-thirds of Americans can’t name one Supreme Court justice and only 1 percent can name all nine.

To me, this sounded like a test. So, without research, I named seven of the nine. Perhaps you would like to pause a moment to take the challenge yourself. Go ahead. Don't cheat though.

How many did you get? Did you name Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter? If you did, you've made a common mistake. They're both retired.

Kennedy and Breyer were the ones I missed, but they don’t really stand out like the rock star trio of Scalia/Sotomayor/Roberts. So with the hope of educating you a little today, here are the nine Supreme Court justices.

John Roberts*
Antonin Scalia
Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor
John Paul Stevens
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Clarence Thomas
Anthony Kennedy
Stephen Breyer

Now, as you can see from the photo above, this is a motley bunch. The asterisk next to John Roberts’ name means that he’s the Chief Justice. Do I know what the Chief Justice does that sets him apart from the rest? Nope. But I do know that if I was John Paul Stevens, and I had been sitting on the court since Gerald Ford appointed me in 1975, I would be kind of angry that I wasted 30 years in that place just to be passed over for the only possible promotion so George W. Bush could put a pretty-boy hot shot in charge in 2005. I am not saying that ultimately led to Stevens' resignation this year (after all, the guy just turned 90) but it probably didn't make him want to stay.

And we all know (at least we should), that Barack Obama nominated Elena Kagen to replace Stevens. I have no opinions on Elena Kagan, but I do know that she has never been a judge and she looks tough. Obama made his high court debut last year by tabbing Sonia Sotomayor as the first Latina justice. Her nomination sparked a controversy about whether or not empathy is a good thing. Apparently it is, because she got confirmed.

Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia are intertwined not only because they have similarly cool-sounding names, but also because they are considered uber-conservatives. In fact, sometimes the younger Alito is referred to as "Scalito."

Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearings in the early 1990s involved some sort of sexual harassment charge by someone named Anita Hill, whom I have not heard of since. But I do remember, as a 10-year old, wondering how such a disturbing man could become so powerful. I guess I was naïve back then.

If you ask me to name my most memorable Supreme Court cases, a la Katie Couric’s interview with Sarah Palin, you’ll get a blank stare and something like this: “Well Roe V. Wade obviously, and Brown V. Board of Education was huge. And then, um, there was that one that Obama didn’t like last year, and I think there was something about porn that was featured in that Woody Harrelson movie about Larry Flynt. Oh! And the 2000 election!”

So no, I don’t know too much about the cases the Supreme Court handles. But I can name seven justices. And that makes me a good American.