To become a Justice on the Supreme Court Of The United States , an individual must be nominated by the President Of The United States and approved by the U.S. Senate , with at least half of that body approving in the affirmative. Generally, a justice's qualifications are judged by the President and, most visibly, by a Senate hearing. There is no definitive qualification of age or experience that is a standard to be met; instead, there is a much more subjective process taken by the Senate, occasionally resulting in a sometimes controversial Defeat Of Judicial Nominees .
The following table lists the terms of all Supreme Court justices since 1789 placed in the order in which the justices took the judicial oath of office and thereby started their term of office. Persons such as Robert H. Harrison or Edwin Stanton , who were appointed to the court but never served, are not listed.
- The names of Justices who are active ( As Of Justice Samuel Alito's inauguration on January 31 , 2006 ) are in .
- Justices who received a Recess Appointment to the Supreme Court have an asterisk(---) following their name. All but one of these recess appointments went on to be confirmed by the Senate during the following session of Congress.
- John Rutledge and Charles Evans Hughes each resigned from the Supreme Court and were later reappointed as Chief Justice. Thus, they are listed twice below, once for each term on the Supreme Court.
(a) ''This individual was elevated from Associate Justice to Chief Justice. Unlike the inferior courts, the Chief Justice is separately nominated and subject to a separate confirmation process, regardless of whether or not (s)he is already an Associate Justice.''
(b) ''There is some disagreement on how Moody exited office. According to the Federal Judicial Center , Moody resigned. According to the Supreme Court Historical Society , Moody retired. It turns out that the confusion comes from the fact that Moody was allowed to retire by special act of Congress in 1910 due to prolonged ill health. (Moody did not meet the minimum age and service requirements to retire without this waiver.)''
(c) ''Deaths in , every justice except Charles Evans Whittaker who has assumed senior status has died in it; in that case, the judge will have the "Reason Appointment Terminated" as "death", even though they retired from the court before they died.''
(d) ''There is some disagreement on how William Howard Taft exited office. According to some sources, such as the Supreme Court Historical Society , Taft retired. According to others, such as the Federal Judicial Center , Taft resigned.''
- --- source for term of senior service, reason service terminated, and seat information
- --- source for state, appointer, and term of active service
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