The Supreme Court formally begins its session on October 5th. Due to a special session, Justice Sonia Sotomayor has already taken her place as the 112th Supreme Court Justice. Of the nine Justices, six are Catholic, two are Jewish and one is Protestant. In fact, the Protestant Justice, John Paul Stevens, is also the oldest, and is rumored to be ready to step down, so it’s possible a year from now the Supreme Court could consist of only Catholic and Jewish Justices.

For a list of Supreme Court Justices through history and more, visit the iWeblists website.

With the death of Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, it’s interesting to note that he was the third longest serving senator. It’s also interesting to note that the two serving longer are both recent senators, one still serving.

Robert Byrd of West Virginia is still serving. He joined the senate in 1959 and has been serving for over 50 years.

Strom Thurmond of South Carolina served in the senate for almost 47 1/2 years, serving until January, 2003. He was 100 years old when he retired. He died later that year.

Ted Kennedy became a senator in 1962 and had been a senator for just under 47 years.

Here are more facts about the current senate, including each senator’s first year in office.

The longest running Broadway show is still running: The Phantom of the Opera has been running since January 26, 1988 and has produced an incredible 9,003 shows. The second longest running show is Cats, at 7485 shows.

In addition to The Phantom of the Opera, playing at the Majestic Theatre, there are five other shows still playing that are in the top 50:

• Chicago is #7 with 5332 shows
• The Lion King is #9 with 4917 shows
• Mamma Mia! is #13 with 3280 shows
• Wicked is #22 with 2438 shows
• Jersey Boys is #43 with 1595 shows

Jersey Boys will move up the list quickly, since it’s less than 300 shows away from #32.

Here’s a list of the longest running Broadway shows, and here’s a list of currently running Broadway shows.

So which US companies are worth the most?

Exxon Mobil (XOM) has held the title for a long time. As of today’s stock market close, Exxon Mobil is worth $326 billion. At a distant second place is WalMart (WMT) at $190 billion, followed by Microsoft (MSFT) at $181 billion. Then we drop to $149 billion for AT&T (T) and Proctor & Gamble (PG) rounds out the top 5 at $146 billion.

The list doesn’t change very much. For example, at the end of October, 2008, near the beginning of the recent crash, four of the top five remained the same. Exxon Mobil was first, followed by WalMart, Microsoft and Proctor & Gamble. GE was 5th, and AT&T was 7th. GE has dropped due to its exposure to the banking industry. GE is now 9th.

Here’s a daily-updated list of the Market Capitalization of the top 50 US companies.

Gary Sheffield just hit his 500th career Home Run. He holds the 25th place among career home run hitters.

Barry Bonds is first with 762, followed by Hank Aaron at 755 and Babe Ruth at 714. Willie Mays is 4th with 660, and Ken Griffey is 5th with 613.

Here’s a link to the career home run leaders and here are more baseball records.

I read frequently that Ted Stevens had been the longest continuously serving Republican Senator in history. So for now, who is the oldest and longest running of each party?

Stevens served from 12/24/68 to 1/3/09, for a total of just over 40 years.

At this point, there are three Democratic Senators that have served longer than that. Robert Byrd of West Virginia has served longest, since 1959. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts has served since 1962 and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii has served since 1963. The longest-serving Republican Senator currently in office is Dick Lugar from Indiana, who has served since 1977.

The oldest Senator is Robert Byrd, born in 1917, over 90 years old. The oldest Republican is the fifth oldest Senator. That’s Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, born in 1930.

Here’s a link to more information about the current Senate. And here’s a link for other useful lists on a variety of topics.

Last week, Martin Brodeur, goalie for the New Jersey Devils, broke the record for career wins, with 552. Patrick Roy is #2, with 551 wins. Roy last played with the Colorado Avalance in the 2002-2003 season.

Brodeur is also currently in second place for career shutouts, with 101, behind Terry Sawchuk, with 103. Sawchuk spent most of his career with the Detroit Red Wings, and played his last season in 1969-1970 with the New York Rangers.

Here is a list of NHL Hockey records, and here is a list of Goalie Career Wins.

18 women have won multiple Oscars for Best Actress and/or Best Supporting Actress. Katharine Hepburn has won four. All were for Best Actress: Morning Glory in 1932/33; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 1967, The Lion in Winter in 1968; and On Golden Pond in 1981.  Ingrid Bergman has won three. The other 16 women have each won two: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Helen Hayes, Glenda Jackson, Jessica Lange, Vivien Leigh, Luise Rainer, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, Elizabeth Taylor, Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters.

Only two men have won more than two Oscars for acting, but 19 have won at least two. Walter Brennan and Jack Nicholson have each won three Oscars. The others who have won two Academy Awards are: Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, Gary Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert De Niro, Melvyn Douglas, Gene Hackman, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman,  Jack Lemmon, Sean Penn, Anthony Quinn, Jason Robards, Kevin Spacey, Spencer Tracy, Peter Ustinov and Denzel Washington.

Here’s more information on Academy Awards for Actors and Actresses and Academy Awards for Supporting Actors and Actresses.

There are 54 new Congresspeople in the House of Representatives. The following 20 states didn’t have any changes in their representatives:

• Alaska (1 representative)
• Arkansas (4)
• Delaware (1)
• Georgia (13)
• Hawaii (2)
• Indiana (9)
• Iowa (5)
• Massachusetts (10) (All Democrats)
• Montana (1)
• Nebraska (3)
• New Hampshire (2)
• North Dakota (1)
• Oklahoma (5)
• Rhode Island (2)
• South Carolina (6)
• South Dakota (1)
• Vermont (1)
• Washington (9)
• West Virginia (3)
• Wisconsin (8 )

California’s 4th district had two changes, though the party was the same, and other than that, the remaining 52 districts reelected the incumbent.

In addition to California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming had new people, but the parties remained the same. So that means that 29 of 50 states look exactly the same by party.

Of the 54 new representatives, 33 are Democrats and 21 are Republicans:

• 26 switched from Republican to Democrat
• 5 switched from Democrat to Republican
• 17 stayed Republican
• 6 stayed Democrat

New Mexico has three seats, and all of them are newly elected, with two seats changed from Republican to Democrat.

Here’s a list of the 2009-2010 House of Representatives.

Of the 50 states plus The District of Columbia, only two states split their electoral votes: Nebraska and Maine. All other states are winner-take all. Nebraska this year awarded one vote to Obama and four to McCain.  This is the first year in 44 years that Nebraska has awarded an electoral vote to a Democrat.  It is also the first year Nebraska’s votes were actually split. Electoral Votes per State are here.

President-Elect Obama will be facing difficult odds in 2012. The last time that voters re-elected three consecutive presidents to a second term was all the way back in 1820, when James Monroe was elected to a second term after two terms for Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

John McCain had the odds against him in this election. The last time a President left office and was succeeded by a member of his own party was when Ronald Reagan was succeeded by George H. W. Bush. Before that, we go all the way back to the 1928 election, when Herbert Hoover succeeded Calvin Coolidge.

More Presidential facts.