Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States. The number of Associate Justices is ruled by the United States Congress and is currently set at eight by the Judiciary Act of 1869.
How they are nominated
The President "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint... Judges of the supreme Court." Although the Constitution refers to them as "Judges of the Supreme Court," the title actually used is "Associate Justice," introduced in the Judiciary Act of 1789.[1] Associate justices were traditionally styled "Mr. Justice" in court opinions, but the title was shortened to "Justice" in 1980, a year before the first female justice was appointed.[2]
Duties
Each of the Justices of the Supreme Court has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before it; the Chief Justice's vote counts no more than that of any other Justice.
Succession process
Under 28 USC 3, when the Chief Justice is unable to discharge his functions, or that office is vacant, his duties are carried out by the most senior Associate Justice until the disability or the vacancy ends.
Current justices
The current Associate Justices are (in order of seniority):
| Justice / birthdate and place |
Appointed by | SCV | Age at | Start date / length of service |
Previous position or office (most recent prior to joining the Court) |
Replaced | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Present | |||||||
| Clarence Thomas June 23, 1948 Pin Point, Georgia |
G. H. W. Bush | 52–48 | 43 | 77 | October 23, 1991 33 years, 313 days |
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1990–1991) | Marshall | |
| Samuel Alito April 1, 1950 Trenton, New Jersey |
G. W. Bush | 58–42 | 55 | 75 | January 31, 2006 19 years, 213 days |
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1990–2006) | O'Connor | |
| Sonia Sotomayor June 25, 1954 The Bronx, New York |
Obama | 68–31 | 55 | 71 | August 8, 2009 16 years, 24 days |
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1998–2009) | Souter | |
| Elena Kagan April 28, 1960 Manhattan, New York |
Obama | 63–37 | 50 | 65 | August 7, 2010 15 years, 25 days |
Solicitor General of the United States (2009–2010) | Stevens | |
| Neil Gorsuch August 29, 1967 Denver, Colorado |
Trump | 54–45 | 49 | 58 | April 10, 2017 8 years, 144 days |
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (2006–2017) | Scalia | |
| Brett Kavanaugh February 12, 1965 Washington, D.C. |
Trump | 50–48 | 53 | 60 | October 6, 2018 6 years, 330 days |
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (2006–2018) | Kennedy | |
| Amy Coney Barrett January 28, 1972 New Orleans, Louisiana |
Trump | 52–48 | 48 | 53 | October 27, 2020 4 years, 309 days |
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (2017–2020) | Ginsburg | |
| Ketanji Brown Jackson September 14, 1970 Washington, D.C. |
Biden | 53–47 | 52 | 54 | June 30, 2022 3 years, 63 days |
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (2021–2022) | Breyer | |
| Source: [3] | ||||||||
References
- ↑ "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875". memory.loc.gov.
- ↑ Joan Biskupic, Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 101.
- ↑ "Current Members". www.supremecourt.gov. Washington, D.C.: Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
Other websites
- Historic collection of Supreme Court decisions and biographies indexed by judge name