Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens

For a forthcoming book that I have, I have collected a lot of data on the Supreme Court as well as other federal courts. One thing of some interest is the age of retirement. Justice John Paul Stevens is 85, and only two justices nominated since 1862 have retired past age 85: Oliver W. Holmes, Jr. ( age 90) and Harry A. Blackman (age 86). The average age of retirement was 71 (with a standard deviation of 8.5). For those who have retired after 1980, the average retirement age was 78. Since 1862, there have only been six nominees who served longer than 30 years on the court. Stevens passed the 30 year mark this past December. After this next election this fall, there will only have been four Justices who will have served longer than Stevens.