US Supreme Court Facts

Recently a presidential contender said he would appoint Barack Obama to the Supreme Court. Obama is not a lawyer and has never been a judge, so I looked up qualifications required.
There are no explicit requirements in the U.S. Constitution for a person to be nominated to become a Supreme Court justice. No age, education, law degree, job experience, or citizenship rules exist.

To date, six justices have been foreign born; the most recent. The youngest associate justice ever appointed was Joseph Story, who was 32 years old when he joined the bench in 1811. Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who served from 1902 to 1932, retired at age 90, making him the oldest person ever to sit on the court. One thing every justice who has served shares in common is that all were lawyers (although not required) prior to joining the court. During the 18th and 19th centuries, before attending law school was standard practice, many future justices got their legal training by studying under a mentor.


James Byrnes, who served on the court from 1941 to 1942, was the last justice who did not attend law school or graduate from high school. He worked as a law clerk and later passed the bar exam. Justices are appointed for life but can be impeached.

Incidentally, during recent years, the court has received some 10,000 annual requests to review cases, but hears only about 80.