A Supreme Court Justice is one of the nine lifetime members of the highest court in the United States federal judiciary, with the final say on questions of federal law and the Constitution. Supreme Court Justices decide cases that bind every other court in the country, both federal and state. Article III of the Constitution created the judicial branch and vested its power in “one supreme Court,” but most of the day-to-day rules about how justices are chosen, how they work, and how they leave come from federal statute and long-standing tradition.1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article III
Who Sits on the Court
Federal law fixes the court at nine members: one Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices. Six justices make a quorum.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1 – Number of Justices; Quorum Nine is not a constitutional requirement; Congress has changed the number by statute before and could do so again, which is why “court packing” proposals periodically return to the news.3Supreme Court of the United States. The Court as an Institution
The Chief Justice casts a single vote like everyone else. The role carries added duties: presiding over oral arguments and the private conferences where justices discuss pending cases, running the court’s administration, assigning the majority opinion when voting with the winning side, and presiding over any presidential impeachment trial in the Senate.
As of 2026, the Chief Justice earns $320,700 a year and each Associate Justice earns $306,600.4United States Courts. Judicial Compensation The Constitution bars Congress from cutting a sitting justice’s pay, a protection designed to keep the other branches from using money as leverage over the bench.1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article III Each justice also hires three or four law clerks per term to research legal issues, draft memoranda, and help prepare opinions.
What Supreme Court Justices Decide
The justices exercise two kinds of jurisdiction. Most of their work is appellate: reviewing decisions already made by lower federal or state courts to decide whether the law was applied correctly. They do not retry facts or hear new evidence.
The Constitution also gives the court original jurisdiction over a narrow set of disputes, including cases involving ambassadors and other foreign diplomats and cases where a state is a party.1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article III A fight between two states over water rights or a boundary line goes directly to the Supreme Court without passing through any lower court.
Whatever the justices decide becomes binding precedent. Every federal and state court must follow the legal principles the Supreme Court lays down, which is what makes the court the final word on what the Constitution means in practice.
Who Can Serve
Article III creates the court but says nothing about who can sit on it.1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article III There is no minimum age, no citizenship requirement, no residency rule, and no requirement to hold a law degree. A justice does not technically need to be a lawyer. That is a sharp contrast with the presidency and Congress, where the Constitution spells out specific qualifications.
In practice, every modern justice has held a law degree, and most have served as federal appellate judges before being nominated. Those are norms, not rules. Several historically important justices never attended law school at all, including John Marshall, widely regarded as the most influential Chief Justice in the court’s history.
How Justices Are Appointed
When a seat opens, the President nominates a replacement under Article II. The nomination then moves to the Senate, which holds the power of “advice and consent” over all federal judicial appointments.5U.S. Senate. Advice and Consent – Nominations
The Senate Judiciary Committee runs the first stage. It conducts background review, holds public hearings where senators question the nominee about legal philosophy and record, and takes a committee vote on whether to recommend the nominee to the full Senate. The FBI runs its own background investigation in parallel. A negative committee recommendation does not automatically kill a nomination, but it sends a strong political signal.
If the nomination reaches the Senate floor, a simple majority confirms. Until 2017, Senate rules effectively required 60 votes to overcome a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee; that year the Senate changed its rules to let a simple majority end debate on Supreme Court nominations, matching the threshold already in use for other federal judges.6Library of Congress. Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2022 – Actions by the Senate Once confirmed, the new justice takes a constitutional oath and a judicial oath before starting work.
Recess Appointments
The President can also fill a vacancy while the Senate is in recess, which skips the confirmation vote. A recess commission is temporary and expires at the end of the Senate’s next session.7Constitution Annotated. Overview of Recess Appointments Clause The Supreme Court has held that breaks shorter than ten days are presumptively too brief to trigger this power, and in modern practice recess appointments to the Supreme Court are extremely rare.
How Cases Get to Them
Thousands of petitions arrive each year. The court issues signed opinions in only about 60 cases annually, and hears oral arguments in roughly 70 to 80. The vast majority of petitions are denied without explanation.
A party asks for review by filing a petition for a writ of certiorari. Under the informal “Rule of Four,” at least four of the nine justices must vote to grant cert before the court will take a case. The justices weigh several factors, including whether lower courts have reached conflicting conclusions on the same legal question and whether an important constitutional issue remains unresolved.
Accepted cases go to oral argument, where each side typically gets 30 minutes to present and answer questions from the bench.8Supreme Court of the United States. Oral Arguments By the time arguments happen, the justices have already read extensive written briefs; the live session is less about new facts and more about pressure-testing each side’s weakest points.
How They Rule
After oral argument, the justices meet in a private conference closed to everyone else. Those discussions produce an initial vote, though positions can shift as opinions are drafted and circulated.
A majority opinion needs at least five of the nine justices to join it. That opinion states the court’s ruling and reasoning and carries the force of law. A justice who agrees with the result but reaches it differently can write a concurring opinion, and a justice who disagrees writes a dissenting opinion.9Supreme Court of the United States. Opinions Dissents have no legal force when issued, but they sometimes supply the reasoning that a later court uses to change direction.
When no single opinion attracts five votes, the result is a plurality opinion. The case is decided, but the precedent is weaker because the justices could not agree on the reasoning, leaving lower courts with less clarity.
The Yearly Schedule
The court runs on an annual “term” that begins the first Monday in October and runs until the first Monday in October the following year. Oral arguments are heard from October through April, in two-week sitting sessions alternating with two-week recesses for writing opinions and reviewing petitions.
Most decisions come down between late spring and the end of June. The biggest and most contentious rulings often arrive on the final days before the summer break. During the summer the justices continue work on emergency applications and preparation for the next term, but no oral arguments are held.
How Long They Serve
Supreme Court Justices hold office “during good Behaviour,” which in practice means for life.1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article III A seat opens only through death, voluntary retirement, resignation, or the rare event of impeachment and conviction. Life tenure is the framers’ tool for judicial independence: a justice who never faces voters or reappointment has less reason to bend to political pressure.
Retirement
Federal law lets justices retire at full salary once they meet age and service thresholds that add up to at least 80, sometimes called the “Rule of 80.” A justice can retire at 65 with 15 years of service, at 66 with 14 years, and so on down to age 70 with 10 years of service.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 371 – Retirement on Salary; Retirement in Senior Status Justices who qualify can also take “senior status,” a form of semi-retirement that lets them continue hearing a reduced caseload in lower federal courts while their Supreme Court seat opens for a successor.
Impeachment
Involuntary removal happens only through impeachment. The House brings charges by majority vote, and the Senate holds a trial. Conviction and removal require a two-thirds vote of the senators present.11Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Article I, Section 3 The Constitution lists treason, bribery, and “other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” as impeachable offenses.12Constitution Annotated. Overview of Impeachment Clause Only one justice has ever been impeached: Samuel Chase, in 1804. The Senate acquitted him the following year, setting a lasting norm that impeachment is reserved for genuine misconduct rather than disagreement with a justice’s legal philosophy.13Federal Judicial Center. Samuel Chase Impeached
Ethics Rules
For most of the court’s history, the justices had no formal written ethics code. Lower federal judges have long followed a Code of Conduct, but the Supreme Court relied on the assumption that its members would voluntarily follow similar principles. That changed in November 2023, when the court adopted its own Code of Conduct for Justices, built around five principles: upholding the integrity of the judiciary, avoiding the appearance of impropriety, performing duties fairly and impartially, limiting outside activities to those consistent with judicial obligations, and refraining from political activity.14Supreme Court of the United States. Code of Conduct for Justices of the Supreme Court
The code addresses gifts, recusal, and participation in activities such as speaking engagements and teaching. Critics have noted it lacks a formal enforcement mechanism, so compliance depends on each justice’s own judgment. Federal statute separately requires justices to file annual financial disclosure reports, which are publicly available and list income, investments, gifts, and reimbursements above set thresholds.