Supreme Court Nominee

    If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you know that a new Supreme Court Nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson has been nominated by President Biden. Ketanji Brown Jackson has experience with Supreme Court Clerking, as a Public Defender, as a District Judge, and as a Court of Appeals Judge. But what does it take to be selected as a Supreme Court Justice?

    As with any job, there are qualifications. While the Constitution does not provide specifics such as age, education, or citizenship, it does require that all Justices are trained in the law - but not necessarily law school! For example, James F. Byrnes, who served as Justice from 1941-1942, did not attend any law school (www.supremecourt.gov). He did not even graduate from high school. However, he did teach himself the law and passed the bar. Wouldn’t that be nice? Of course, standards and schooling has changed since the 40’s and Justice Byrnes was the last Justice to be appointed without a formal legal education. 

    If you have set your sights on becoming a Supreme Court Justice, you’ve done yourself a great service by attending law school. Next, you must be selected. The first step is to be nominated by the President to fill a vacancy on the Court. From here, the Senate votes to confirm the nominee, which requires a majority (Id). Should the nominee be confirmed, the Constitution states that Justices “shall hold their Offices during good Behavior”. U.S. Const. Art II, §2. This means Justices hold office as long as they choose and can only be removed from office by impeachment. 

Do you think there should be stricter parameters in qualifying for a Supreme Court Justice position? Should there be term limits to ensure the Court is representative of the society in which they serve?

-Taylor Mace

Supreme Court of the United States. “General Information.” Home - Supreme Court of the United States, https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/faq_general.aspx.