Senior Status

Because Article III judges serve for life, Congress has long tried to encourage aging judges to make room for successors without losing their experience. A 1919 law allowed judges who met age and service requirements to retire from regular active service while continuing to hear cases, the origin of what is now called senior status. The modern rule, set in 1984 and known as the Rule of 80, lets a judge take senior status at 65 or older once the judge's age plus years of service equal at least 80, with a minimum of 10 years on the bench.

A judge who takes senior status keeps the office, its salary, and staff, but is no longer counted as an active judge, so the President may nominate a successor to the seat. To keep receiving salary increases, senior judges must certify that they carry at least a set share of a typical caseload or perform equivalent work. Many hear a reduced docket, while others carry nearly full loads or travel to help overburdened courts, and senior judges handle a substantial share of the work of the federal courts, often around a fifth of trials and appeals.

Senior status is central to the politics of judicial appointments, since most vacancies on the lower courts open when judges take senior status rather than when they die or retire fully. Judges sometimes time the decision to a President of the party that appointed them, and some make the change contingent on a successor's confirmation. Supporters say the system preserves experience and keeps courts staffed at little added cost, while critics say strategic timing politicizes the judiciary and that seats should open on a predictable schedule.