Average age of SCOTUS justices climbs to almost record high
The average age of current justices on the U.S. Supreme Court is just over 69, making the court one of the oldest on record.
The average age was higher at the end of 1936, when it was 71.1, and the end of 1985, when it was 70.9, the Washington Post blog the Fix reports. The blog calculates the average age of justices at the end of 2016 will be 70.4, making it the third highest on record.
For years in which a justice was replaced, the blog counted the age of both the retiring justice and his or her replacement.
“Since 1878,” the blog says, “the average age of the court on the whole has crept upward, although not terribly quickly. It rose, then plummeted right before World War II, then rose again. The highest average age of every justice serving in a year at the end of that year was in 1936— right before all those retirements. The second highest was in the 1980s, and the third highest is now. (Or, really, at the end of this year.)”
The average age at which a Supreme Court justices retires is 78.7. Right now, three justices are above that age: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia and Anthony M. Kennedy.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
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