Age and Tenure of the Justices and Productivity of the U.S. Supreme Court: Are Term Limits Necessary?

Authors

Joshua C. Teitelbaum, Georgetown University Law CenterFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2006

Related Data and Documentation

Replication data for: Age and Tenure of the Justices and Productivity of the U.S. Supreme Court: Are Term Limits Necessary?

Abstract

This Article examines the relationship between the productivity of the U.S. Supreme Court and the age and tenure of the Supreme Court Justices. The motivation for this Article is the Supreme Court Renewal Act of 2005 (SCRA) and other recent proposals to impose term limits for Supreme Court Justices. The authors of the SCRA and others suggest that term limits are necessary because, inter alia, increased longevity and terms of service of the Justices have resulted in a decline in the productivity of the Court as measured by the number of cases accepted for review and the number of opinions issued per term. On the whole, the empirical findings of this Article do not provide clear support for this assertion.

Publication Citation

34 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 161-181 (2006)

Scholarly Commons Citation

Teitelbaum, Joshua C., "Age and Tenure of the Justices and Productivity of the U.S. Supreme Court: Are Term Limits Necessary?" (2006). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 602.
https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/602