As part of my summer academic research I've put together a database of supreme court justices of the last 50 years to figure out who was on the court for which decisions. A side effect is I can generate extremely useless information.

Such as: there have been 4 justices who died while on the bench (Rutledge, Jackson, Vinson, Murphy).

Longest retirement after leaving the bench: James Byrnes, 29 yrs (because he resigned after only 16 months -- did he qualify for full pension?)

Shortest retirement: Hugo Black (died 8 days after retiring)

Youngest justice appointed: William Douglas (40 yrs). Oldest appointed: Lewis Powell (64 yrs)

Oldest justice: Harry Blackmun retired just short of his 86th birthday. But John Paul Stevens is 85 and in one more year, will take the title.

24 Jun 05