Senior status

Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for U.S. federal judges. After U.S. federal judges have reached a certain combination of age and years of federal service, they are allowed to assume senior status. When that happens, they receive the full salary of a judge but only work part-time. Additionally, senior judges do not occupy seats; instead, their seats become vacant, and the President may appoint new full-time judges to fill their spots. Depending on how heavy a caseload they carry, senior judges are entitled to maintain a staffed office, including a secretary and one or more law clerks.

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In 1919, Congress created the senior status option for inferior court judges. Before the senior status option was created, a judge who reached the age of seventy with at least ten years of service as a federal judge was allowed to retire and receive a pension for the rest of his life; afterwards, a judge who qualified for retirement could instead assume senior status. In 1937, the senior status option was extended to Supreme Court justices. A senior justice is essentially an at-large senior judge, able to be assigned to any court by the Chief Justice of the United States, but receiving the salary of a retired justice.

Related Topics:
1919 - Congress - 1937 - Supreme Court - Chief Justice of the United States

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In 1954, Congress modified entry requirements for the senior status option. Federal judges or justices could still assume senior status at seventy with ten years of service, but they could also assume senior status at 65 with fifteen years of service. In 1984, the requirements were further modified to what is often called the "Rule of 80": once a judge or justice reached age 65, any combination of years of age and years of service on the federal bench which totaled to eighty entitled the judge to assume senior status.

Related Topics:
1954 - 1984

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Senior status was not originally known as such. In 1919, when the senior status option was created, a judge who had assumed what we now call "senior status" was referred to as a "retired judge". The title of "senior judge" was instead used to refer to the active judge with the most seniority in a given court; after 1948, this notion was formalized and modified under the new title of "chief judge". In 1958, the term "senior judge" was given its current meaning of a judge who had assumed senior status.

Related Topics:
1919 - 1948 - 1958

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