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Leaving the Bench

Supreme Court Justices at the End

David N. Atkinson

New in Paperback: September 2000
xiv, 248 pages, 25 photographs, 6 x 9
Paper ISBN 978-0-7006-1058-7, $16.95

Also available in cloth
ISBN 978-0-7006-0946-8, $29.95

Book Cover ImageSuffering from a bad heart, emphysema, glaucoma, and deafness, Thurgood Marshall finally retired from the Supreme Court at the age of 82 in spite of having always claimed "I was appointed to a life term, and I intend to serve it." Many observers felt he should have left much earlier.

Life appointments make Supreme Court justices among the most powerful officials in government and allow even dysfunctional judges to stay on long after they should have departed. For that reason, when a justice leaves the bench is often as controversial as when he's appointed. This first comprehensive historical treatment of their deaths, resignations, and retirements explains when and why justices do step down. It considers the diverse circumstances under which they leave office and clarifies why they often are reluctant to, showing how factors like pensions, party loyalty, or personal pride come into play. It also relates physical ailments to mental faculties, offering examples of how a justice's disability sometimes affects Court decisions.

David Atkinson examines each of the nearly 100 men who have left the bench and provides anecdotal glimpses into the lives of famous and obscure justices alike. He reveals how men like Salmon Chase and William O. Douglas determinedly continued to serve after suffering strokes, how Joseph McKenna persevered despite knowing he was professionally unqualified, and how, long before Thurgood Marshall, the ailing octogenarian Gabriel Duvall finally retired after struggling to protect another ideological position on the Court.

Ultimately, Atkinson shows just how human these people are and enhances our understanding of how the Court conducts its business. He also suggests specific ways to improve the present situation, weighing the pros and cons of mandatory retirement and calling for reform in the delegation of duties to law clerks--who in recent years have dominated the actual writing of many justices' decisions.

As the current Court ages, how long might we expect justices to remain on the bench? Because our next president will likely make several appointments, now is the time to consider what shape the Supreme Court will take in the next century. Offering a wealth of information never before collected, Leaving the Bench provides substantial grist for that debate and will serve as an unimpeachable reference on the Court.

"Trivia buffs and scholars alike will enjoy this lively volume."--National Law Journal

"The questions Atkinson asks are not just academic: thoughts of Supreme Court vacancies are sure to crop up in this year's presidential race."--Wall Street Journal

"Highly engaging. . . . This book is must reading."--Appellate Practice Journal

"Fascinating."--Legal Times

"Over a twenty-year period, Atkinson had the opportunity to interview many former Justices, their families and associates. Such first-person experiences, freshly preserved, are of incalculable value to historians of the Court as well as present-day readers."--New York Law Journal

"Beautifully organized and written, this is the first systematic effort to pull together and analyze Supreme Court deaths, resignations, and retirements. As such, it makes a significant contribution to the field." --Tinsley E. Yarbrough, author of Judicial Enigma: The First Justice Harlan

"This is clearly a book for Supreme Court junkies, and I am one of those. A pleasure to read, it is filled with lots of fascinating detail about the medical conditions of justices and their ultimate demise. This makes for both engaging and, at times, macabre reading. Atkinson's purpose, of course, is not simply to entertain. He is concerned with the impact of judicial disability on the workings of the Supreme Court throughout its history and grapples with potential solutions to the problems it poses."--Sheldon Goldman, author of Picking Federal Judges: Lower Court Selection from Roosevelt through Reagan

DAVID N. ATKINSON is Curators' Distinguished Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, where he is also professor of political science and law at the School of Law.