Who was the last Supreme Court Justice who did not graduate from law school?
Robert H. Jackson. James F. Byrnes was the last sitting justice who never attended law school. The last sitting justice who did not graduate from law school was Stanley Reed.
Wait, if I may be allowed to hijack for a second, is it law that any judge has to have a J.D. or a liscense to practice law?
I realize that many positions as judges are elected, if ABA approval a requirement for the office, or can anybody theroretically be elected a judge if state or local laws don’t disallow it? What about magistrates?
The laws vary by state. Some states require JDs or bar membership. Others don’t.
I don’t know if the Federal courts have any particular requirements except that the Senate would likely not look favorable upon some Joe off the street being put on the Supreme Court.
The only requirement for the Supreme Court is being appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. BobT is right that the Senate would not look too kindly on a person without a law degree these days.
Senator and Presidential Hopeful Joe Leiberman looks kindly on having Kweisi Mfume (formerly known as Frizzell Gray) on the Supreme Court. While Mfume has many strong credentials, a Law Degree is not one of them. (Leiberman made this statement at the embarrassing NAACP Convention in Miami Beach about a month and a half ago.
WARNING: Cite is a right wing propoganda rag, but they do quote the real statements.
Its ironic, and unfair, but not different from private industry where executives are not required to have degrees, nor drug screening, but the workers cant get into the door without it.
Rather than requiring a law degree, it would be nice if we required Supreme Court Justices to know something about the Constitution, and the volumous writings of the founding fathers as to what the Constitution means.
It seems Clarance Thomas knows quite a bit about what the founding fathers intended, but most of the others are apparently clueless, esp Ginsberg.
Susanann, your post is not only inappropriate for GQ, it also doesn’t make a lick of sense. I guarantee that every member of the Supreme Court knows more about the foundational intent of the Constitution than you do, but there is a legitimate school of legal thought (indeed, it’s probably the majority one, though by no means the only) that original intent is not as important as other concerns (such as justice, internal consistency, understandibility, faithfulness to the text, etc.).
Has there ever been a member of the Supreme Court who isn’t a lawyer? I’m not aware of one. Note that up through the first half of the 20th century many lawyers trained as apprentices to established attorneys instead of going to law school. In at least some states a person could become licensed through self-study as well, as long as he was able to demonstrate his qualifications (such as by passing the Bar exam). While law education has become much more formalized in the last several decades, at least some states, such as Virginia, still allow lawyers to qualify through an apprenticeship program (although I imagine that you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of lawyers who take this route each year – and that count might be generous). It is certainly the case that there have been Supreme Court justices who didn’t go to law school, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t lawyers.
–Cliffy
Likely the most famous American to have held a position as a judge (though not on the Supreme Court, certainly) was Harry S Truman. He did not preside over trials, but held an administrative position.
Cliffy:excellent post.