Retiring From Supreme Court More Common Than You Think

Stephen Breyer joins a long line of justices who stepped down from lifetime job

by Dena Bunis, AARP, January 27, 2022

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Can you retire from a lifetime job? Even though U.S. Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, 39 of the 115 people who have been justices of the high court chose to retire. At age 83, Justice Stephen Breyer is about to be added to that list. Here's a look at some of the high court jurists who have retired.

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PHOTO BY: Photo by Charles Ommanney/Getty Images

Sandra Day O'Connor

Nominated by President George H.W. Bush, O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, was 75 when she retired. O'Connor left the court in 2006 in large measure because of the declining health of her husband, who had Alzheimer's disease. After a decade of continuing to make public appearances and even serving as a visiting federal judge, O'Connor fully retired from public life in 2016 due to her own failing health and battle with dementia.
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PHOTO BY: Photo by Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images

David Souter

Nominated by President George H.W. Bush, Souter retired from the court in 2009 at age 69. Souter had made it clear to friends and associates that he disliked Washington, D.C., and was anxious to return to his native New Hampshire. He continues to hear cases as a visiting federal judge for the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. When he retired, Souter said his plan was to immerse himself in his massive book collection.
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PHOTO BY: Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Anthony Kennedy

Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, Kennedy retired in 2018 at age 81. Known best as a critical swing vote on the then closely divided court, Kennedy said at the time that he was leaving the high court to spend more time with his family. Although nominated by a Republican president, Kennedy often sided with the liberal members of the court, including when he was the decisive vote in the 2015 landmark ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.
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PHOTO BY: Photo by Allison Shelley/Getty Images

John Paul Stevens

Nominated by President Gerald Ford, Stevens retired in 2010 and passed away in 2019 at age 98. He decided to retire after suffering a ministroke. Despite being nominated by a Republican president, Stevens became a leading member of the court's liberal wing. He was very busy in retirement, writing three books and speaking out on causes he believed in, including calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment that, among other things, grants Americans the right to bear arms.
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PHOTO BY: Photo by Corbis via Getty Images

Thurgood Marshall

Nominated by President Lyndon Johnson, Marshall was the first Black justice of the high court. He retired in 1991 at age 83, citing health reasons, and died two years later. A prominent figure in the civil rights movement, Marshall was perhaps best known as the lead counsel in the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that led to the desegregation of America's schools.

Dena Bunis covers Medicare, health care, health policy and Congress. She also writes the “Medicare Made Easy” column for the AARP Bulletin. An award-winning journalist, Bunis spent decades working for metropolitan daily newspapers, including as Washington bureau chief for the Orange County Register and as a health policy and workplace writer for Newsday.

Retiring From Supreme Court More Common Than You Think

Stephen Breyer joins a long line of justices who stepped down from lifetime job

Sandra Day O'Connor

David Souter

Anthony Kennedy

John Paul Stevens

Thurgood Marshall

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