Critical Analysis

Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, any links below, your big brain, and your knowledge of American government and politics:

1. The current Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court is John Roberts. He is known as the first among equals but that doesn’t give him an extra vote in decisions or even a golden robe. Who is currently the senior Supreme Court justice (the justice who has been there the longest)?

2. How many of the Justices were appointed by Democratic presidents?

3. How many of the Justices were appointed by Donald Trump?

4. Describe one interesting pattern or trend you noticed in makeup of the current Supreme Court?

5. We have a very old court. People older than your grandparents are making decisions about what you can and cannot do. Does age have a bearing on the kind of decisions a person makes?

6. Over half the US population is protestant (51.3%) and yet there is only one protestant on the Supreme Court. What about the process of joining the Supreme Court allows for such a religious representation on the Court so unlike America’s?

7. If your goal was to become a member of the Supreme Court, based on the data from the visual above, what educational/career steps should you take from this moment forward?

8. Ruth Bader Ginsberg was known as Notorious R.B.G. If you were to give another Justice a nickname, who would it be and what would you call them?

9. If a Supreme Court member became senile or suffered from dementia or Alzheimer's Disease or did something really, really naughty would there be anything the government could do to remove them from the court?

10. Over the years, 1/3 of all Supreme Court members have served beyond the age of 75. It has be proposed that all future Justices be appointed for a maximum of 15 years, with a cap on service at the age of 75. In the comments section below, explain your thoughts on a mandatory retirement age for the Supreme Court:

Write and Discuss

Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.

Act on your Learning

Article III of the United States Constitution leaves it to Congress to fix the number of justices. The Judiciary Act of 1789 called for the appointment of six justices, and as the nation's boundaries grew, Congress added justices to correspond with the growing number of judicial circuits: seven in 1807, nine in 1837, and ten in 1863. What do you think is the ideal number of members of the SCOTUS? Contact Senator Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and share your thoughts on the size of the Court.

Learn More

Take a virtual tour of the SCOTUS. And get this: two Associate Justices have been named John Marshall Harlan. The first served from 1877 to 1911. The second, his grandson, served from 1955 to 1971.