Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Associate Justices of the United States Supreme Court are the members of that court other than the Chief Justice. Their number, determined by an act of Congress, is currently eight. 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.

Related Topics:
United States Supreme Court - Chief Justice - President of the United States - United States Senate - Federal judge - Impeachment

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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 gets to assign who gets to write the opinion in a case when the Chief is in the majority, and thus gets additional influence in case disposition. 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 http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/01/news/newsmakers/salary/).

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By tradition, when the Justices are in conference deliberating the outcome of cases before the Court, if there is a knock at the conference room door, the most junior Associate Justice must answer it.

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