[See Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices (Part 1), Nov. 21, 2012; (Part 2), Nov. 24, 2012; (Part 3--the "Yoots"), Dec. 4, 2012.]
We've been doing that primarily to assess the likelihood of vacancies arising in President Obama's 2nd term. With that in mind, let's now review some recent retirements from the Court.
Let's look at the last 10. That would be a quarter century worth of Justices leaving the Court and creating vacancies.
Let's focus specifically on the retirees' ages and how long they'd been on the Court when they departed. Here they are in chronological order:
Warren E. Burger
- Lived 1907-1995, died age 87
- On Court 1969-1986 (Nixon)
- Retired after 17 yrs
- Retired age 79
Lewis F. Powell
- Lived 1907-1998, died age 90
- On Court 1972-1987 (Nixon)
- Retired after 15 1/2 yrs
- Retired age 79
William J. Brennan
- Lived 1906-1997, died age 91
- On Court 1956-1990 (Eisenhower)
- Retired after 33 3/4 yrs
- Retired age 84
As we continue, with the remaining 7 of the most recent retirees, recall our recap in the previous post on the Court's current septuagenarians:
In short, their [the septuagenarians'] ages range from the oldest, 79 ( Ginsburg), to the youngest, 74 (Breyer); and by the end of Obama's term, 83 to 78. Their years on the Court, by that time, will range from 30 (Scalia) to 22 (Breyer).Keeping that in mind, let's continue.
Thurgood Marshall
- Lived 1908-1993, died age 84
- On Court 1967-1991 (Johnson)
- Retired after 24 yrs
- Retired age 83
Byron R. White
- Lived 1917-2002, died age 84
- On Court 1962-1993 (Kennedy)
- Retired after 31 yrs
- Retired age 76
Harry A. Blackmun
- Lived 1908-1999, died age 90
- On Court 1970-1994 (Nixon)
- Retired after 24 yrs
- Retired age 85
William H. Rehnquist
- Lived 1924-2005, died age 80
- On Court 1972-2005 (Nixon; Reagan to CJ)
- Died in office after 33 3/4 yrs
- Died in office age 80
Sandra Day O'Connor
- Lived 1930- present, age 82
- On Court 1981-2006 (Reagan)
- Retired after 24 yrs
- Retired age 75
David H. Souter
- Lived 1939- present, age 73
- On Court 1990-2009 (Bush 41)
- Retired after 18 3/4 yrs
- Retired age 69
John Paul Stevens
- Lived 1920- present, age 92
- On Court 1975-2010 (Ford)
- Retired after 34 1/2 yrs
- Retired age 90
Very quickly, for these former 10 Justices:
- Time on the Court ranged from 15 1/2 - 34 1/2 years.
- Age when left the Court, from 69 - 90.
In the next post--the final one in this series--we'll take one more look at the data for the current Justices, particularly the septuagenarians. We'll do so in light of this data we've just surveyed on the last 10 Justices to leave the Court. We'll see what, if any, probabilities and possibilities it all raises.
