Nine justices sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Eight—Justice Elena Kagan is the exception—were federal appellate court judges before they ascended, with four serving on the D.C. Circuit, two on the 2nd Circuit (Connecticut, New York, and Vermont), and one each on the 1st Circuit (the rest of New England) and the 3rd Circuit (Mid-Atlantic states). Only Justice Anthony Kennedy, who served on the 9th Circuit, does not come from one of the 13 original states. (Justice Stephen Breyer was born in San Francisco and graduated from Stanford, but went to Harvard for law school and has spent his professional life on the East Coast. Justice Clarence Thomas also spent time in Missouri early in his