Have all US Supreme Court justices been lawyers?

Answer 1

No, eight of the nine members of the current Court served as US Court of Appeals Circuit judges prior to being elevated to the Supreme Court, and Justice Sotomayor has also served as a District Court (trial) judge. The newest justice to join the Court, Elena Kagan, is the lone exception; she has served as US Solicitor General, Associate White House Counsel, Dean of Harvard Law School, and as a Law Professor, but had no judicial experience prior to taking the Oath of Office on August 7, 2010.

Having prior judicial experience is not a constitutional requirement, but a fairly recent trend toward seating justices with prior judicial experience for practical purposes.

It was less common in the past to select candidates with judicial experience. At one time, members of the Court were more likely to be selected from the political ranks: former Senators, House members, cabinet members, State Governors, and members of State legislature were well represented. Some past justices had made distinguished careers as lawyers, and were selected on the basis of their legal reputations. Kagan was US Solicitor General immediately prior to her nomination, the first justice in 40 years not to have experience on the bench.

There are no constitutionally mandated qualifications for Supreme Court Justices; however, all 112 past and present members of the Court are, or have been, lawyers.

Answer 2

Yes. Although this is not a Constitutional or statutory requirement, Supreme Court justices need a solid understanding of the law to operate effectively. Not all justices attended law school, however. In the 18th- and 19th-centuries, many lawyers studied and apprenticed under a more experienced attorney and were admitted to the bar without benefit of a degree.

Today, most Supreme Court candidates have Ivy League law degrees.

Answer 3

No. The Constitution is silent about the justices' qualifications, allowing the President and Congress full discretion over their selection. Although there are no formal requirements that candidates for the Court have judicial experience, the trend in recent years has been to use the Circuit Courts as a training and testing ground. All of the current justices served on the US Court of Appeals Circuit Courts before being elevated to the Supreme Court.

Answer 4

All the current US Supreme Court justices have had judicial experience in the US Court of Appeals Circuit Courts* prior to joining the Supreme Court; however, this is a recent trend designed to provide potential nominees with appellate court experience and to establish a record of jurisprudence for evaluation. Appellate court appointments reduce the likelihood that the President will nominate a justice whose ideology runs counter to his (or her) own (as was the case when President Eisenhower appointed Chief Justice Warren Burger).

Historically, all Supreme Court justices have been lawyers, but many held other political offices (Senator, Representative, state legislature, etc.) before appointment, and some were placed straight out of private practice.

*Sonia Sotomayor is the only justice who also served as a US District Court judge.