FOUNDED 1789 ALSO KNOWN AS SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) NUMBER OF CURRENT JUSTICES 9 HIGHE S T- R A NK ING JUSTICE IN THE U. S. Chief Justice John Glover Roberts Jr. LONGE S T- S E RV ING JUSTICE William O. Douglas Served 36.5 years LEAST POPULAR JUSTICE Justice James Clark McReynolds He was an anti-Semite and a general bigot known to hate people of other races. Chief Justice Taft wrote that he found McReynolds to be “selfish to the last degree ... fuller of prejudice than any man I have ever known ... one who delights in making others uncomfortable. He has no sense of duty ... really seems to have less of a loyal spirit to the Court than anybody.” Though McReynolds served one of the longest terms as justice, not a single colleague attended his funeral.
142 / THE MONSEY VIEW
A LIFETIME TENURE
UNLIKE POTUS, JUSTICES OF SCOTUS AREN’T LIMITED BY A FIXED NUMBER OF YEARS. ONCE INSTATED, A JUSTICE IS GRANTED LIFETIME TENURE; HE OR SHE MAY BE REMOVED FROM THE POSITION ONLY THROUGH IMPEACHMENT, CHOOSING TO RESIGN OR RETIRE, OR DEATH.
THE L AW LIBR ARY To help the justices reach legal decisions, the Supreme Court has its own law library with more than 600,000 legal tomes and 200,000 microforms, as well as electronic resources. The library is run by a staff of 29 librarians.
JUDGE VS. JUSTICE
What’s the difference between a judge and a justice? Generally speaking, a judge presides over the lower courts and justices over the higher courts. (New York, however, is one state that inverts this order, using the term “judges” for those in the higher courts.) RIDING CIRCUIT Up until 1901, SCOTUS justices were required to “ride circuit,” which means they had to travel all around America to courts within their assigned “circuits” and preside over cases with local judges.