What senior status means for a federal judge

A federal judge who reaches age 65 may take senior status once their age plus their years of Article III service total at least 80, the “Rule of 80” in 28 U.S.C. § 371. A senior judge remains a judge: most keep hearing cases, typically with a reduced load, and keep their full salary.

Why it matters

Taking senior status opens the judge’s seat: the president may nominate a successor while the senior judge keeps working. That is why a court’s roster can show more judges than it has authorized seats. JudicialFinder lists judges in active service and senior judges separately on each Article III court’s page (see the Ninth Circuit for a large example).

Senior judges are among the longest-tenured public officials in the country. See the oldest sitting federal judges and longest-serving active federal judges. On the Supreme Court the practice differs: a justice who takes senior status leaves the Court’s bench, so the site treats it as retirement there.