What is the average length of a justices tenure

As a result, significantly fewer Supreme Court justices will be appointed over the next century than were appointed in the last. Justice Neil Gorsuch, whom Trump appointed at the relatively tender age of 49, could conceivably remain on the court through nine more presidential terms, given that he can expect to live another 36 years, our actuarial analysis shows. The average tenure of justices is likely to increase to 35 years on the bench over the next century, compared with 17 years over the previous years, based on the justices from Kennedy back to those on the bench in That means there likely will be only another 25 appointees over the next years, starting with the Trump presidency and including Justice Gorsuch and the replacement for Justice Kennedy.

An anticipated decline in Supreme Court appointments should be seen as a concern by both political parties. With new justices being likely to serve 35 years, on average, the process of choosing a new justice is likely to become even more vitriolic. And presidents who have the opportunity to make multiple appointments may have disproportionate influence over constitutional interpretations of the law well beyond their time in office.

Yet there is comparatively little debate over whether or how the United States should address longevity on the Supreme Court. There should be. Reaching a solution to mitigate the challenges will be tricky and may take years.

Appointments would become predictable exercises, not embarrassing partisan spectacles. Our proposal does not contravene this requirements as it would keep justices on the federal bench as senior justices after serving 18 years on SCOTUS.

Some may still feel that pushing justices into senior status would be too similar to forcing them into retirement.

We do take seriously the charge that this could be seen as a diminution of the position, and so our proposal would not impact current justices — that is, only future justices would be subject to this new regulation on service. Read our term limits proposal here. Donate News. The Justices. He was 46 years old when he was sworn in. The current justice with the most tenure is Justice Clarence Thomas, who was appointed nearly 28 years ago, in Fourteen of the former justices studied were under 45 years old when they were sworn in and half served for 30 or more years.