This week's question was, How many states require state court judges to retire at a specific age?

You answered: 27.
The correct answer is 31.

Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have set mandatory retirement ages for state court judges, including for judges on state supreme court and on intermediate appellate and general jurisdiction courts.

In 2003, Vermont established the highest mandatory retirement age at 90 years old.

When it comes to state supreme courts, the most common reasons for a vacancy include reaching the mandatory retirement age, retiring before the end of a term, death, or appointment to another office.

There are 344 state supreme court justices across 52 courts of last resort. Judicial selection methods for state supreme court justices vary by state. Twenty-two states use partisan or nonpartisan elections to select justices. The remaining states use other methods in which the legislature or governor selects justices.

In 2020, we conducted a study identifying the partisan balance on every state supreme court. You can find that research here. We also identified which justices ruled together most often in our Determiners and Dissenters report found here.

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