List of people who have served in all three branches of the United States federal government


Following is a list of persons who have served in all three branches of the United States federal government. Membership in this list is limited to persons who have:
  1. served in the executive branch, as President of the United States, Vice President, a Cabinet officer, or another executive branch office requiring confirmation by the United States Senate; and
  2. served as a member of either the United States Senate or of the House of Representatives; and
  3. served as a United States federal judge on a court established under Article Three of the United States Constitution.

    Summary

Forty-five men can claim to have served in all three federal government branches. The first person to achieve this distinction was John Marshall, when he was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1801, having briefly served in Congress and as Secretary of State. The most recent person to join the list was James L. Buckley, who had already been President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and a U.S. Senator when he was appointed to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals in 1985.
Of those who have served in all three branches, fifteen served as United States Attorneys; five served as Attorney General; five served as Secretary of the Navy; three served as Secretary of the Treasury; three served as Postmaster General, two while this office was still a cabinet post; two served as Secretary of State; two served as Secretary of War; two served as Secretary of the Interior; two served as Commissioner of Internal Revenue; two served as Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization; and one served as Secretary of Labor. Three held multiple Cabinet posts. Although many Presidents and Vice Presidents have also served in Congress, and one later served on the Supreme Court, none has ever served in all three branches.
With respect to legislative service, sixteen of these men were Senators and thirty-four were Representatives, of which, five served in both houses of Congress. The states from which they were elected are largely diverse, though thirteen states have multiple members on the list; New York and Virginia tie for the most with four, followed by Ohio with three.
With respect to Judicial service, the tendency is toward higher office. Twelve members of the list served on the Supreme Court of the United States — three as chief justice. Of the other thirty, eight served on one of the federal courts of appeals, three went from a district court to a circuit court, and twenty-four garnered their judicial branch service in district court judgeships alone. Two of the Supreme Court Justices on the list had previously served on federal circuit courts. For thirty-three of the members of the list, their judicial appointment was also their final point of service. One Supreme Court justice, two Circuit Court judges and seven District Court judges resigned from the bench to take posts in the executive branch and one Circuit Court judge and four District Court judges resigned from the bench to join the United States Senate.
Seven people on the list—James F. Byrnes, Salmon P. Chase, Mahlon Dickerson, John J. Hickey, Thomas B. Robertson, Donald S. Russell, and Levi Woodbury—have, in addition to their varied federal government service, also served as governor of a U.S. state.

List

Near misses

A number of people have come close to achieving this distinction, having held offices in two branches but having failed in an attempt to hold office in a third branch, or having held offices in two branches and worked for a third branch without holding a constitutional office in that branch:
Executive and Legislative
Executive and Judicial
Legislative and Judicial