Senior status

This article is about a status of United States federal judges. For other uses, see Seniority and Senior.

Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and have served at least 10 years, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at least 80 years.[1] As long as senior judges carry at least a 25 percent caseload or meet other criteria for activity, they remain entitled to maintain a staffed office and chambers, including a secretary and their normal complement of law clerks, and they continue to receive annual cost-of-living increases.[1] The president may appoint new full-time judges to fill the vacancies in full-time judgeships caused by senior status.[1]

Some U.S. states have similar systems for senior judges. State courts with a similar system include Iowa (for judges on the Iowa Court of Appeals), Pennsylvania, and Virginia (for justices of the Virginia Supreme Court).[2][3][4]

  1. ^ a b c Block, Frederic (March 2007). "Senior Status: An Active Senior Judge Corrects Some Common Misunderstandings" (PDF). Cornell Law Review. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  2. ^ "Rule 22.12 - Senior judges, Judi. Admin. 22.12". Casetext.
  3. ^ Senior Judges Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Revised January 2017.
  4. ^ "§ 17.1-401. Senior judge". law.lis.virginia.gov.