The Supreme Court is equal to and independent of the other two branches of our government, aunique hallmark of American democracy mandated by the Constitution. As our Supreme Court begins a new term, it is important to remember the significant contributions to that court from Ohio and Kentucky over the past 200 years. The Supreme Court has had only 105 members since its founding. Contrast that with more than 10,000 people who have served in the U.S. House and 1,875 who have served in the Senate.

From the 1807 appointment of Thomas Todd of Kentucky to the 1981 resignation of Justice Potter Stewart of Cincinnati, there were justices with roots in either Kentucky or Ohio. In addition to the excellent quality of the jurists from Kentucky and Ohio, their selection reflected the importance of Ohio and Kentucky in national politics during our nation's first 200 years.

There have been sixteen chief justices. Five of the 16 have been from either Ohio or Kentucky.

Taft's tenure

The most famous member of the Supreme Court from this region is William Howard Taft. He was chief justice of the United States when Sen. Strom Thurman began his political career. He is the only person to serve as president and as a member of the Supreme Court.

Taft was appointed by Warren G. Harding, the last president from Ohio. Taft's achievements as chief justice were primarily administrative. He was instrumental in getting legislation passed that gave the Supreme Court control over the number of cases it heard with the Certiorari Act of 1925. The Certiorari Act reduced the number of decisions from state supreme courts and the federal appeals courts that could be heard as a matter of "right" before the Supreme Court.

Taft is also responsible for presiding over the building of the Supreme Court Building. Until the 1930s, the Supreme Court met in the Capitol.

Other notable chief justices from Kentucky and Ohio were Salmon P. Chase and Fred Vinson.

Of the 89 associate justices, 15 were either natives of or living in Ohio or Kentucky at the time of their appointment to the court. It's 17 should you count the brief time Justice Philip Barbour lived in Kentucky as a child and Justice John McKinley practiced law in Frankfort.

Within the ranks of associate justices were:

• Cincinnati's Potter Stewart, who coined the term regarding the test for obscenity - "I know it when I see it."

• Maysville's Stanley Reed, the last member of the Supreme Court without a law degree (though he attended law school without obtaining a degree).

• John Marshall Harlan, who wrote the dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson.

• Louis Brandeis of Louisville, the court's first Jewish member.

• Robert Trimble of Paris, Ky., was the first federal district judge to serve on the court. Trimble was Northern Kentucky's second U.S. district judge before his appointment to the Supreme Court. Trimble, who served only two terms on the court, was the first justice to write a majority opinion where Chief Justice John Marshall was in the minority.

In looking at today's composition of the Supreme Court, appointments have shifted to reflect the shift in the nation's population and electoral importance. Currently, Justice John Paul Stevens of Illinois, a state with a large bloc of electoral votes, is the only sitting justice from a state on the Ohio River.

Kentucky's clout of old

Before the 1930s, Kentucky had electoral votes. During Thomas Jefferson's administration, Kentucky was an electoral powerhouse. This electoral reckoning figured into Jefferson's selection of Thomas Todd to the court in 1807. John Quincy Adams selected Trimble on the advice of Henry Clay. Clay had thrown his support to Adams over Andrew Jackson in the contested election of 1824 when it reached Congress.

There are as many as 17 swing states in this year's presidential election. Will one of the next members of the Supreme Court come from one of those swing states?

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Paul L. Whalen is an attorney who lives in Fort Thomas. He attended graduate school at Eastern Kentucky University.