his admission to the bar in 1812. However, Woodbury did not receive a law degree. Woodbury's successor on the court, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1832, and was appointed to the court in 1851, was the first Justice to bear such a credential. Associate Justices James F. Byrnes, whose short tenure lasted from June 1941 to October 1942, and Robert H. Jackson, who served from July 1941 to October 1954, were the last two justices to be appointed without having graduated from law school; Stanley Forman Reed, who served on the court from 1938 to 1957, was the last sitting justice from such a background. In total, of the 115 justices appointed to the court, 49 have graduated from law school, an additional 18 attended some law school but did not graduate, and 47 received their legal education without any law school attendance. Two justices, Sherman Minton and Lewis F. Powell Jr., earned a Master of Laws degree. Of those who attended law school, 40 attended one of three specific institutions: Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and Columbia Law School. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of law school attendees appointed to the court attended a private law school rather than a public law school. In 1970, G. Harrold Carswell, was nominated as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court – to occupy the seat vacated by Abe Fortas. During the debate of the nomination, Nebraska Republican Roman Hruska intoned in a TV interview, "Even if he [Carswell] were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? We can't have all Brandeises and Frankfurters and Cardozos." The table below shows the college and law school from which each of the currently sitting justices graduated: Professional background Not only have all justices been attorneys, nearly two thirds had previously been judges. , eight of the nine sitting justices previously served as judges of the United States courts of appeals, while Justice Elena Kagan served as Solicitor General, the attorney responsible for representing the federal government in cases before the court. Few justices have a background as criminal defense lawyers, and Thurgood Marshall is reportedly the last justice to have had a client in a death penalty case. Historically, justices have come from some tradition of public service; only George Shiras Jr. had no