Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

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Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States. The number of Associate Jusitices is determined by the United States Congress and is currently eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869. Associate Justices are nominated for service by the President of the United States. Their nominations are then referred to the United States Senate for confirmation. If confirmed then, like other federal judges, they serve for life and can only be removed by death, resignation or impeachment.

Each of the Justices of the Supreme Court has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before it; the Chief Justice's vote counts no more than that of any other Justice. However, in drafting opinions, the Chief Justice assigns who writes the opinion in a case when the Chief is in the majority, and thus gets additional influence in case disposition. Otherwise, the senior justice in the majority assigns the writing of a decision. Furthermore, the Chief Justice leads the discussion of the case among the justices. The Chief Justice has certain administrative responsibilities that the other Justices do not, and is paid slightly more ($208,100 vs. $199,200 as of 2005 [1]).

Associate justices have seniority by order of appointment, although the Chief Justice is always considered the most senior. If two justices are appointed on the same day, the older is designated the senior justice of the two. The senior associate justice is now John Paul Stevens. By tradition, when the Justices are in conference deliberating the outcome of cases before the Court, the justices state their views in reverse order of seniority. If there is a knock at the conference room door, however, the junior justice (who sits closest to the door) must answer it.

The current associate justices are (in order of seniority): John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Samuel Alito

[edit] Retired Associate Justices

Contrary to popular belief, a Justice who steps down from the Court continues to be a member of it. When a Justice retires he or she usually goes into senior status, which means that the Justice keeps his or her title and continues to be a member of the Supreme Court. The Retired Justices may elect to keep a chamber in the Supreme Court building as well as maintaining law clerks. The name of the Retired Associate Justices continues to appear alongside the other active members on the Bound Volumes of Supreme Court decisions. However, Retired Associate Justices take no part in the consideration or decision of any cases before the Court.

Currently the only Retired Associate Justice is Sandra Day O'Connor, who assumed senior status on January 31, 2006.