More than 319 permanent staff members assist the justices in carrying out the business of the U.S. Supreme Court. Most of these employees of the Court work for one of the five officers, whose jobs were established by law: administrative assistant to the chief justice, clerk of the Court, reporter of decisions, marshal, and librarian.
Administrative assistant to the chief justice
The administrative assistant, with a staff of three, assists the chief justice in management of nonjudicial business, such as the administration of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Federal Judicial Center, and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The administrative assistant also supervises personnel matters and budgets of the Court.
Clerk of the Court
The clerk of the court oversees a staff of 25 people. Among other duties, they manage dockets (agendas) and calendars of the Court, keep track of petitions and briefs that are submitted to the Court, notify lower courts of Supreme Court actions and decisions, and advise lawyers, upon request, about rules and procedures of the Court.
Reporter of decisions
The reporter supervises a staff of nine people who are responsible for recording, editing, and printing the opinions of the Court. The reporter of decisions oversees the official publication of the Supreme Court case decisions in United States Reports, which is printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office.
Marshal
With a staff of more than 200 people, the marshal of the Supreme Court manages the security, physical facilities, and payroll of the Court. The marshal receives all important visitors to the Supreme Court Building. He also takes charge of the safety of justices when they carry out formal duties outside the Supreme Court Building.
The marshal declares the beginning of each public session of the Court. He stands at one side of the bench and announces, “The Honorable, the chief justice and the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.” As the justices file into the courtroom, the marshal declares, “Oyez, oyez, oyez [Hear ye]: All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this honorable Court.”
Librarian
A staff of 25 helps the librarian of the Supreme Court manage more than 250,000 books and several computerized databases. The librarian supervises the library in the Supreme Court Building and arranges for interlibrary loans.
In addition to the five court officers described above, other employees work for the Office of the Legal Counsel, Office of the Curator, Public Information Office, and the Data Systems Office.
Office of the Curator
The curator of the Supreme Court has the duty of recording and preserving the history of the Court. Chief Justice Warren Burger established the Office of the Curator in 1973. The office collects and preserves memorabilia, such as photographs, prints, manuscripts, and videotapes, that are related to the lives and work of the justices.
Items from the collections of the curator are used in the two exhibits the curator's staff prepares each year. These exhibits are presented in the lower Great Hall of the Supreme Court Building.
The curator's staff responds regularly to requests for information about the Supreme Court from scholars, the justices, other federal judges, and the general public. The staff also conducts hourly lectures and tours for the thousands of visitors who annually visit the Supreme Court Building.
Office of the Legal Counsel
Two attorneys assist the Court with legal research. The attorneys prepare for the justices summaries and analyses of the cases in which the Court has original jurisdiction (cases not on appeal from lower courts, but heard for the first time by the Supreme Court). This office serves as a general counsel for the Court; that is, it provides legal information for the justices upon request. Unlike the justices' law clerks, who serve short terms, the Office of the Legal Counsel provides the continuous legal research services of experienced attorneys.
Public Information Office
A staff of four people works for the Public Information Office. This office distributes 4,000 slip opinions on Supreme Court cases—preliminary, unedited full-text reports on opinions that are circulated within three days of decisions. The slip opinions help newspaper reporters and broadcasters to publicize news of Supreme Court opinions quickly; without the slip opinions, they would have to wait for the fully edited and official publication of the Court opinions. The Public Information Office maintains a press room and broadcast booths for the use of journalists. One hundred seventy-five bench copies of the Court's opinions, preliminary full-text reports, are provided to reporters on the day the opinion is announced by the Court. The Public Information Office also transmits the bench copies of opinions electronically to legal data-base services, such as LEXIS and WESTLAW.
See also Clerk of the Court; Clerks of the justices; Reporter of decisions
