(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