Qualifications to Become a Supreme Court Justice
The U.S. Constitution does not set out specific qualifications for becoming a Supreme Court justice even though it does establish basic minimum criteria for the president and members of Congress. But although many of the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention were educated in law, they chose not to require too many specific qualifications for justices on the Supreme Court.
This may have been because becoming involved in a law career can take several forms, including apprenticeship to a lawyer rather than a formal legal education. As a result, some early Justices were Founding Fathers born outside the United States, while others never earned an academic law degree.
The Constitution does, however, establish the basic framework for the Supreme Court and federal court system, as well as the process for selecting Supreme Court justices.
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Article III, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution
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Article III, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution establishes the judicial power of the United States in "one Supreme Court" and "in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish."
The Judiciary Act of 1789
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Under the authority of that Article, the U.S. Senate drafted the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the Supreme Court and the system of lower federal courts that feed cases into it. The court would have one chief justice and five associate justices and would convene in the nation's capital, but the justices would travel through the 13 federal judicial districts to hear cases twice each year.
The Supreme Court assembled for the first time on February 2, 1790. Since then, Congress has removed the traveling requirement and increased the number of total justices to nine: one chief justice and eight associate justices. -
Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution
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To populate the Supreme Court, Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution authorizes the president to nominate "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate...Judges of the Supreme Court."
The Senate Judiciary Committee
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Under the authority of this article, the Senate established its Judiciary Committee on December 10, 1816, to provide "advice and consent" to the president regarding his Supreme Court nominees.
'During Good Behavior'
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The only qualification required of Supreme Court justices comes in Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution but relates to justices already on the Supreme Court. It requires that all federal judges shall hold their offices "during good Behavior." Thus, Congress can only remove a justice against his or her will if the justice violates this qualification.
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