Qualifications for a Supreme Court Justice – You Would Never Guess

Qualifications for a Supreme Court Justice are surprisingly vague in the U.S. Constitution. However, over the years a very distinct criteria has evolved that is now used to nominate and confirm a Supreme Court Justice. Indeed, it was George Washington that initiated the first criteria for selecting nominees. Now there is a very well defined, standard criteria that is used by the legal community, the Senate, and Presidents to nominate and confirm Supreme Court Justices.

What Are the U.S. Constitution’s Qualifications for a Supreme Court Justice?

The short answer is the Constitution does not specify qualifications for a supreme court justice such as age, education, profession, or native-born citizenship. Indeed, the U.S. Constitution only stipulates that Congress determines the number of Justices. So really the only qualification for a Supreme Court Justice is that the President must nominate someone for a vacancy on the Court and the Senate votes to confirm the nominee with a simple majority. For specific details, see the Supreme Court of the United States’ FAQs.

President Washington Criteria for Selecting Supreme Court Justice. 

The first president had the most nominees to the Supreme Court, fourteen. Here is President Washington’s criteria for selecting a nominee

• Support and advocacy of the U.S. Constitution
• Distinguished service in the American Revolution
• Active participation in the political life of a particular state or the nation as a whole
• Prior judicial experience on lower tribunals
• Either a “favorable reputation with his fellows” or personally known to Washington himself
• Geographic suitability—the original Supreme Court were circuit riders
• Love of the country

See ThoughtCo’s What Are the Requirements to Become a Supreme Court Justice? for more information.

The American Bar Association (ABA) Qualifications for a Supreme Court Justice.

For over 60 years, the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has evaluated the professional qualifications of nominees to the Supreme Court. As part of the Government’s nomination process, the Chair of the ABA Standing Committee provides the ABA rating for each nominee and submits it to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the White House, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Specifically, to merit the Committee’s rating of “Well Qualified”, the nominee must meet the following criteria:

• be a preeminent member of the legal profession
• have outstanding legal ability
• exceptional breadth of experience
• meet the very highest standards of integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament 
• found to merit the Standing Committee’s strongest affirmative endorsement

A President’s Selection Criteria For Nominating a Supreme Court Judge.

Lastly, the U.S. History Organization looked at how presidents have chosen judges and justices in the past. They found that presidents have used very similar criteria to determine who to nominate for a Supreme Court Justice opening. Specifically, these qualifications include

• Experience. To get through the nomination process the nominee must have substantial judicial or governmental experience.
• Party and Personal Loyalties. Usually Presidents will nominate a judge who has a similar political ideology to their own. Most nominees will belong to the president’s political party.
• Ethnicity and Gender. Until recently almost all federal judges were white males. Today ethnic and gender are an important criteria for nominating a Supreme Court Justice.
• Age. If a nominee is well qualified, a president will consider age as a criteria because Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life. Therefore, the longer a Justice can potentially serve on the Court can be an important consideration affecting generations to come.

“Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever.”

William Howard Taft

What Does the Pursuit of Happiness Mean in the Constitution?

For more information from Unvarnished Facts on Government, click here.