John Roberts’ Wife Jane Sullivan

Jane Sullivan

Jane Sullivan is the longtime wife of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

The Buffalo, NY native grew up in Long Beach, Indiana and became the youngest chief justice since John Marshall in 1801.

In 1979, Roberts graduated law school magna cum laude. Upon graduation, Roberts clerked for Judge Henry Friendly for a year before clerking for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist in 1980.

As an attorney for the government and in private practice, he argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court and won 25 of them.

After a two-year period in the private sector as an associate at Hogan & Hartson, Roberts was appointed Principal Deputy Solicitor General by George H.W. Bush.

President George W. Bush nominated Roberts as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2003. In 2005, Bush originally nominated Roberts to fill the seat left by Sandra Day O’Connor when she announced her plans to retire, but after Chief Justice Rehnquist died, Bush withdrew his nomination in order to nominate him to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States instead.

He’s been happily married to lawyer wife, Jane Sullivan since 1996. The two are the proud parents of two children –Josephine and Jack.

Jane Marie Sullivan tied the knot to John Glover Roberts Jr., at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Washington. At the time, they both were lawyers for Washington law firms.

Jane Sullivan is the daughter of Kathleen and John Sullivan of Carmel, N.Y –her father was a technician for the Postal Service in Manhattan. While her mother was an administrative assistant at Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx.

Jane graduated from the College of the Holy Cross. She received a diploma in education from the University of Melbourne, Australia, a master’s degree in applied mathematics from Brown University and a law degree from Georgetown University.

Sullivan, who was in her early 40’s when she became married, is a former associate at Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge. She is also a former partner at Washington’s Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law firm. The wife and mom of two also serves on the board of the College of the Holy Cross and is currently a partner at Major, Lindsey & Africa.

She’s also been associated with Feminists for Life, an anti-abortion feminist group.