(Part 5--Retirees, past & possible) Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices

In this series, we've been looking at the septuagenarian Justices, the younger ones, and the recent retirees. With regard to the retirees--the 10 over the last 25 years--we've focused on their time on the Court and their age when they departed. [See [See Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices (Part 1), Nov. 21, 2012; (Part 2), Nov. 24, 2012; (Part 3--the "Yoots"), Dec. 4, 2012; (Part 4--the Retirees), Dec. 6, 2012.]

Now, let's single out the "extreme" retirees--i.e., those were on the Court the longest and the shortest, and those who were the oldest and the youngest at retirement  Then the "average" retirees--i.e., those who represent the average (or the median) time Justices remain on the Court, and who represent the average (or the median) age when they leave.

Here are the extremes:

(click to enlarge)

That's Justice John Paul Stevens, appointed by President Ford and the Court's last retiree, at one end of the range with the longest tenure among the recent retirees. His 34 1/2 years is one of the longest in Court history. (William O. Douglas, an FDR appointee, holds the record at 36 1/2 years.)

Justice Lewis Powell, the 3rd of President Nixon's 4 appointees, is at the other end with his 15 1/2 years being the briefest tenure among the last 10 retirees. (James F. Byrnes, the last of FDR's 9 appointees, holds the record with a mere 15 months.)

As for age at retirement, that's Stevens again at one end as the oldest--and, at 90, one of the oldest retirees in Court history. (Oliver Wendell Holmes, a TR appointee, was several months older--just a few weeks short of his 91st birthday.)

At the other end is President Bush 41's appointee, Justice David Souter, whose retirement at (nearly) 69 years of age makes him the youngest to retire among recent Justices. (Justice Benjamin Curtis, appointed by President Fillmore, was apparently the youngest to leave the Court. He resigned at the age of 47, appalled by the Court's decision in the Dred Scott decision, against which he authored a dissenting opinion.)

[I've summarized the time-on-the-Court and retirement age data for the last 10 retirees in a Table that's accessible HERE.]

(Part 5a--the Table) Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices

Table: The Last 10 Retirees

Warren E. Burger	On the Court 17 yrs	Retired 1986 at 79	Died at 87
Lewis F. Powell	15 ½ yrs	Retired 1987 at 79	Died at 90
William J. Brennan, Jr.	33 ¾ yrs	Retired 1990 at 84	Died at 91
Thurgood Marshall	24 yrs	Retired 1991 at 83	Died at 84
Byron R. White	31 yrs	Retired 1993 at 75	Died at 84
Harry A. Blackmun	24 yrs	Retired 1994 at 85	Died at 90
William H. Rehnquist	33 ¾ yrs	Died in office 2005 at 80	Died at 80
Sandra Day O'Connor	24 yrs	Retired 2006 at 75	Currently 82
David H. Souter	18 ¾ yrs	Retired 2009 at 69	Currently 73
John Paul Stevens	34 ½ yrs	Retired 2010 at 90	Currently 92

[As noted in the main post, much of this data is derived from the works of  University Of Virginia Professor Emeritus Henry J. Abraham, including his JUSTICES AND PRESIDENTS (AND SENATORS in later editions).]
Return to the main post HERE.

(Part 4--the Retirees) Court Elders: The Septuagenarian Justices

Thus far in this series, we've taken a look at the 4 septuagenarians on the Court and at the 5 younger Justices. We noted the marked contrast in their respective ages and lengths of service on the Court.
[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