How many supreme court justices have retired

Justices 1789 to Present

Chief Justices

Name	State App't From	Appointed by President	Judicial Oath Taken	Date Service Terminated
Jay, John	New York	Washington	(a) October 19, 1789	June 29, 1795
Rutledge, John	South Carolina	Washington	August 12, 1795	December 15, 1795
Ellsworth, Oliver	Connecticut	Washington	March 8, 1796	December 15, 1800
Marshall, John	Virginia	Adams, John	February 4, 1801	July 6, 1835
Taney, Roger Brooke	Maryland	Jackson	March 28, 1836	October 12, 1864
Chase, Salmon Portland	Ohio	Lincoln	December 15, 1864	May 7, 1873
Waite, Morrison Remick	Ohio	Grant	March 4, 1874	March 23, 1888
Fuller, Melville Weston	Illinois	Cleveland	October 8, 1888	July 4, 1910
White, Edward Douglass	Louisiana	Taft	December 19, 1910	May 19, 1921
Taft, William Howard	Connecticut	Harding	July 11, 1921	February 3, 1930
Hughes, Charles Evans	New York	Hoover	February 24, 1930	June 30, 1941
Stone, Harlan Fiske	New York	Roosevelt, F.	July 3, 1941	April 22, 1946
Vinson, Fred Moore	Kentucky	Truman	June 24, 1946	September 8, 1953
Warren, Earl	California	Eisenhower	October 5, 1953	June 23, 1969
Burger, Warren Earl	Virginia	Nixon	June 23, 1969	September 26, 1986
Rehnquist, William H.	Virginia	Reagan	September 26, 1986	September 3, 2005
Roberts, John G. , Jr.	Maryland	Bush, G. W.	September 29, 2005

Associate Justices

Name	State App't From	Appointed by President	Judicial Oath Taken	Date Service Terminated
Rutledge, John	South Carolina	Washington	(a) February 15, 1790	March 5, 1791
Cushing, William	Massachusetts	Washington	(c) February 2, 1790	September 13, 1810
Wilson, James	Pennsylvania	Washington	(b) October 5, 1789	August 21, 1798
Blair, John	Virginia	Washington	(c) February 2, 1790	October 25, 1795
Iredell, James	North Carolina	Washington	(b) May 12, 1790	October 20, 1799
Johnson, Thomas	Maryland	Washington	September 19, 1791	January 16, 1793
Paterson, William	New Jersey	Washington	(a) March 11, 1793	September 9, 1806
Chase, Samuel	Maryland	Washington	February 4, 1796	June 19, 1811
Washington, Bushrod	Virginia	Adams, John	November 9, 1798	November 26, 1829
Moore, Alfred	North Carolina	Adams, John	(a) April 21, 1800	January 26, 1804
Johnson, William	South Carolina	Jefferson	May 7, 1804	August 4, 1834
Livingston, Brockholst	New York	Jefferson	January 20, 1807	March 18, 1823
Todd, Thomas	Kentucky	Jefferson	(a) May 4, 1807	February 7, 1826
Duvall, Gabriel	Maryland	Madison	(a) November 23, 1811	January 14, 1835
Story, Joseph	Massachusetts	Madison	(c) February 3, 1812	September 10, 1845
Thompson, Smith	New York	Monroe	(b) September 1, 1823	December 18, 1843
Trimble, Robert	Kentucky	Adams, J. Q.	(a) June 16, 1826	August 25, 1828
McLean, John	Ohio	Jackson	March 12, 1829	April 4, 1861
Baldwin, Henry	Pennsylvania	Jackson	January 18, 1830	April 21, 1844
Wayne, James Moore	Georgia	Jackson	January 14, 1835	July 5, 1867
Barbour, Philip Pendleton	Virginia	Jackson	May 12, 1836	February 25, 1841
Catron, John	Tennessee	Jackson	May 1, 1837	May 30, 1865
McKinley, John	Alabama	Van Buren	(c) January 9, 1838	July 19, 1852
Daniel, Peter Vivian	Virginia	Van Buren	(c) January 10, 1842	May 31, 1860
Nelson, Samuel	New York	Tyler	February 27, 1845	November 28, 1872
Woodbury, Levi	New Hampshire	Polk	(b) September 23, 1845	September 4, 1851
Grier, Robert Cooper	Pennsylvania	Polk	August 10, 1846	January 31, 1870
Curtis, Benjamin Robbins	Massachusetts	Fillmore	(b) October 10, 1851	September 30, 1857
Campbell, John Archibald	Alabama	Pierce	(c) April 11, 1853	April 30, 1861
Clifford, Nathan	Maine	Buchanan	January 21, 1858	July 25, 1881
Swayne, Noah Haynes	Ohio	Lincoln	January 27, 1862	January 24, 1881
Miller, Samuel Freeman	Iowa	Lincoln	July 21, 1862	October 13, 1890
Davis, David	Illinois	Lincoln	December 10, 1862	March 4, 1877
Field, Stephen Johnson	California	Lincoln	May 20, 1863	December 1, 1897
Strong, William	Pennsylvania	Grant	March 14, 1870	December 14, 1880
Bradley, Joseph P.	New Jersey	Grant	March 23, 1870	January 22, 1892
Hunt, Ward	New York	Grant	January 9, 1873	January 27, 1882
Harlan, John Marshall	Kentucky	Hayes	December 10 1877	October 14, 1911
Woods, William Burnham	Georgia	Hayes	January 5, 1881	May 14, 1887
Matthews, Stanley	Ohio	Garfield	May 17, 1881	March 22, 1889
Gray, Horace	Massachusetts	Arthur	January 9, 1882	September 15, 1902
Blatchford, Samuel	New York	Arthur	April 3, 1882	July 7, 1893
Lamar, Lucius Quintus C.	Mississippi	Cleveland	January 18, 1888	January 23, 1893
Brewer, David Josiah	Kansas	Harrison	January 6, 1890	March 28, 1910
Brown, Henry Billings	Michigan	Harrison	January 5, 1891	May 28, 1906
Shiras, George, Jr.	Pennsylvania	Harrison	October 10, 1892	February 23, 1903
Jackson, Howell Edmunds	Tennessee	Harrison	March 4, 1893	August 8, 1895
White, Edward Douglass	Louisiana	Cleveland	March 12, 1894	December 18, 1910*
Peckham, Rufus Wheeler	New York	Cleveland	January 6, 1896	October 24, 1909
McKenna, Joseph	California	McKinley	January 26, 1898	January 5, 1925
Holmes, Oliver Wendell	Massachusetts	Roosevelt, T.	December 8, 1902	January 12, 1932
Day, William Rufus	Ohio	Roosevelt, T.	March 2, 1903	November 13, 1922
Moody, William Henry	Massachusetts	Roosevelt, T.	December 17, 1906	November 20, 1910
Lurton, Horace Harmon	Tennessee	Taft	January 3, 1910	July 12, 1914
Hughes, Charles Evans	New York	Taft	October 10, 1910	June 10, 1916
Van Devanter, Willis	Wyoming	Taft	January 3, 1911	June 2, 1937
Lamar, Joseph Rucker	Georgia	Taft	January 3, 1911	January 2, 1916
Pitney, Mahlon	New Jersey	Taft	March 18, 1912	December 31, 1922
McReynolds, James Clark	Tennessee	Wilson	October 12, 1914	January 31, 1941
Brandeis, Louis Dembitz	Massachusetts	Wilson	June 5,1916	February 13, 1939
Clarke, John Hessin	Ohio	Wilson	October 9, 1916	September 18, 1922
Sutherland, George	Utah	Harding	October 2, 1922	January 17, 1938
Butler, Pierce	Minnesota	Harding	January 2, 1923	November 16, 1939
Sanford, Edward Terry	Tennessee	Harding	February 19, 1923	March 8, 1930
Stone, Harlan Fiske	New York	Coolidge	March 2, 1925	July 2, 1941*
Roberts, Owen Josephus	Pennsylvania	Hoover	June 2, 1930	July 31, 1945
Cardozo, Benjamin Nathan	New York	Hoover	March 14, 1932	July 9, 1938
Black, Hugo Lafayette	Alabama	Roosevelt, F.	August 19, 1937	September 17, 1971
Reed, Stanley Forman	Kentucky	Roosevelt, F.	January 31, 1938	February 25, 1957
Frankfurter, Felix	Massachusetts	Roosevelt, F.	January 30, 1939	August 28, 1962
Douglas, William Orville	Connecticut	Roosevelt, F.	April 17, 1939	November 12, 1975
Murphy, Frank	Michigan	Roosevelt, F.	February 5, 1940	July 19, 1949
Byrnes, James Francis	South Carolina	Roosevelt, F.	July 8, 1941	October 3, 1942
Jackson, Robert Houghwout	New York	Roosevelt, F.	July 11, 1941	October 9, 1954
Rutledge, Wiley Blount	Iowa	Roosevelt, F.	February 15, 1943	September 10, 1949
Burton, Harold Hitz	Ohio	Truman	October 1, 1945	October 13, 1958
Clark, Tom Campbell	Texas	Truman	August 24, 1949	June 12, 1967
Minton, Sherman	Indiana	Truman	October 12, 1949	October 15, 1956
Harlan, John Marshall	New York	Eisenhower	March 28, 1955	September 23, 1971
Brennan, William J. , Jr.	New Jersey	Eisenhower	October 16, 1956	July 20, 1990
Whittaker, Charles Evans	Missouri	Eisenhower	March 25, 1957	March 31, 1962
Stewart, Potter	Ohio	Eisenhower	October 14, 1958	July 3, 1981
White, Byron Raymond	Colorado	Kennedy	April 16, 1962	June 28, 1993
Goldberg, Arthur Joseph	Illinois	Kennedy	October 1, 1962	July 25, 1965
Fortas, Abe	Tennessee	Johnson, L.	October 4, 1965	May 14, 1969
Marshall, Thurgood	New York	Johnson, L.	October 2, 1967	October 1, 1991
Blackmun, Harry A.	Minnesota	Nixon	June 9, 1970	August 3, 1994
Powell, Lewis F., Jr.	Virginia	Nixon	January 7, 1972	June 26, 1987
Rehnquist, William H.	Arizona	Nixon	January 7, 1972	September 26, 1986*
Stevens, John Paul	Illinois	Ford	December 19, 1975	June 29, 2010
O'Connor, Sandra Day	Arizona	Reagan	September 25, 1981	January 31, 2006
Scalia, Antonin	Virginia	Reagan	September 26, 1986	February 13, 2016
Kennedy, Anthony M.	California	Reagan	February 18, 1988	July 31, 2018
Souter, David H.	New Hampshire	Bush, G. H. W.	October 9, 1990	June 29, 2009
Thomas, Clarence	Georgia	Bush, G. H. W.	October 23, 1991
Ginsburg, Ruth Bader	New York	Clinton	August 10, 1993	September 18, 2020
Breyer, Stephen G.	Massachusetts	Clinton	August 3, 1994	June 30, 2022
Alito, Samuel A. , Jr.	New Jersey	Bush, G. W.	January 31, 2006
Sotomayor, Sonia	New York	Obama	August 8, 2009
Kagan, Elena	Massachusetts	Obama	August 7, 2010
Gorsuch, Neil M.	Colorado	Trump	April 10, 2017
Kavanaugh, Brett M.	Maryland	Trump	October 6, 2018
Barrett, Amy Coney	Indiana	Trump	October 27, 2020
Jackson, Ketanji Brown	Washington, D. C.	Biden	June 30, 2022

Notes: The acceptance of the appointment and commission by the appointee, as evidenced by the taking of the prescribed oaths, is here implied; otherwise the individual is not carried on this list of the Members of the Court. Examples: Robert Hanson Harrison is not carried, as a letter from President Washington of February 9, 1790 states Harrison declined to serve. Neither is Edwin M. Stanton who died before he could take the necessary steps toward becoming a Member of the Court. Chief Justice Rutledge is included because he took his oaths, presided over the August Term of 1795, and his name appears on two opinions of the Court for that Term.

The date a Member of the Court took his/her Judicial oath (the Judiciary Act provided “That the Justices of the Supreme Court, and the district judges, before they proceed to execute the duties of their respective offices, shall take the following oath . . . ”) is here used as the date of the beginning of his/her service, for until that oath is taken he/she is not vested with the prerogatives of the office. The dates given in this column are for the oaths taken following the receipt of the commissions. Dates without small-letter references are taken from the Minutes of the Court or from the original oath which are in the Curator’s collection. The small letter (a) denotes the date is from the Minutes of some other court; (b) from some other unquestionable authority; (c) from authority that is questionable, and better authority would be appreciated.

*Elevated.

View Timeline Version

Frequently Asked Questions on Justices

How many Justices have there been?

As of June 2022, there have been 116 Justices.

What is the average length of a Justice’s tenure?

The average number of years that Justices have served is 16.

Who was the longest serving Chief Justice?

The longest serving Chief Justice was Chief Justice John Marshall who served for 34 years, 5 months and 11 days from 1801 to 1835.

Which Chief Justice served the shortest Term?

The shortest serving Chief Justice was John Rutledge who was appointed under a temporary commission because the Senate was in recess. He served for 5 months and 14 days before the Senate reconvened and rejected his nomination.

Who was the longest serving Associate Justice?

The longest serving Justice was William O. Douglas who served for 36 years, 7 months, and 8 days from 1939 to 1975.

Which Associate Justice served the shortest Term?

John Rutledge served the shortest tenure as an Associate Justice at one year and 18 days, from 1790 to 1791. The next shortest tenure was that of James F. Byrnes who served 1 year, 2 months, and 25 days from 1941 to 1942. For many years, Justice Thomas Johnson was thought to have been the shortest serving Justice but under a temporary recess appointment he served a total of 1 year, 3 months and 28 days.

Who was the youngest Chief Justice appointed?

John Jay (1789-1795) was 44 years old when he took his oath of office.

Who was the oldest Chief Justice appointed?

Harlan F. Stone (1941-1946) was 68 years old when he took his oath of office.

Who was the oldest Associate Justice appointed?

Horace Lurton (1910-1914) was 65 years old when he took his oath of office.

Who was the oldest person to serve on the Supreme Court?

The oldest person to serve as a Supreme Court Justice was Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., (1902-1932) who was 90 when he retired from the Court.

Have any Justices been born in another country?

Six Justices were born outside the United States. They are:

James Wilson (1789-1798) born in Caskardy, Scotland
James Iredell (1790-1799) born in Lewes, England
William Paterson (1793-1806) born in County Antrim, Ireland
David J. Brewer (1889-1910) born in Smyrna, Turkey
George Sutherland (1922-1939) born in Buckinghamshire, England
Felix Frankfurter (1939-1962) born in Vienna, Austria

Has anyone ever served as both President and Chief Justice?

William Howard Taft is the only person to have served as both President of the United States (1909-1913) and Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930).

Who was the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice?

Associate Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1916-1939).

Who was the first African American Supreme Court Justice?

Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall (1967-1991).

Who was the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice?

Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor (2009-Present).

Who was the first woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice?

Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (1981-2006).

Have any Supreme Court Justices had the same name?

Two Associate Justices were named John Marshall Harlan. The first served from 1877 to 1911. The second, his grandson, served from 1955 to 1971.

Have any Supreme Court Justices served as law clerks?

Ten Justices served as law clerks. They are:

Byron R. White clerked for Chief Justice Fred Vinson during the 1946 Term.
William H. Rehnquist clerked for Justice Robert H. Jackson during the 1952 Term.
John Paul Stevens clerked for Justice Wiley B. Rutledge during the 1947 Term.
Stephen G. Breyer clerked for Justice Arthur J. Goldberg during the 1964 Term.
John G. Roberts, Jr., clerked for Justice William H. Rehnquist during the 1980 Term.
Elena Kagan clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall during the 1987 Term.
Neil M. Gorsuch clerked for then-retired Justice Byron R. White and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy during the 1993 Term.
Brett M. Kavanaugh clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy during the 1993 Term.
Amy Coney Barrett clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia during the 1998 Term.
Ketanji Brown Jackson clerked for Justice Stephen G. Breyer during the 1999 Term.

Justice Gorsuch is the first to have served as a member of the Court alongside a Justice for whom he clerked.

What law schools did the present Justices graduate from?

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. - Harvard (J.D. )
Justice Clarence Thomas - Yale (J.D.)
Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. - Yale (J.D.)
Justice Sonia Sotomayor - Yale (J.D.)
Justice Elena Kagan - Harvard (J.D.)
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch - Harvard (J.D.)
Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh - Yale (J.D.)
Justice Amy Coney Barrett - Notre Dame (J.D.)
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson - Harvard (J.D.)

Why do Justices wear black robes?

Judicial robes have long been thought to bring dignity and solemnity to judicial proceedings. Following the custom of English judges, some American colonial judges adopted the wearing of robes along with many other customs and principles of the English common law system. When the Supreme Court first met in 1790, the Justices had not settled on whether to wear robes, but in February 1792 they did appear in a standard set of robes for the first time, which one reporter referred to as "robes of justice. " These robes are thought to have been black, trimmed with red and white on the front and sleeves. They were only used for a few years before the Justices adopted all black robes.

Results-2021: major judicial appointments and dismissals

Illustration: Pravo.Ru/Oksana Ostrogorskaya

In 2020, Olga Egorova left the Moscow City Court, which she headed for 20 years. Her place was taken by Mikhail Ptitsyn, a native of the structure of military courts. Prior to that, he was the chairman of the West Siberian District Military Court (2007–2010) and the Southern (North Caucasus) District Military Court (2010–2020).

Following this, Yegorova's former deputies submitted their resignations. In 2020, Mikhail Panarin and Elena Bazkova left, whose term of office ended. And in March 2021, Mikhail Fomin, who had worked in the city court since 2001, left his position. In recent years, he did not consider cases on his own, but only listened to them as part of the presidium of the court. Earlier, Fomin considered the "Evsyukov case", as well as the case of the former head of the main investigative department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Dovgy. In September, the last of Egorova's deputies, Natalya Afanasyeva, resigned. In 2015, she became deputy chairman of the city court, where she oversaw civil cases. The judge managed to work with Egorova back in the 80s in the Oktyabrsky District Court of Moscow. Previously, Afanasyeva headed the Qualification Board of Judges of Moscow.

Ptitsyn was not left without deputies. In June 2021, the President appointed three judges to this position by decree. Lyubov Ishmuratova, who has been working at the IGU since 2008, and since 2015 has been the chairman of the board of the court for criminal cases, received the position of deputy chairman in the same specialization. In the past five years, Ishmuratova also headed the capital's KKS, but left this position after a new appointment in the Moscow City Court.

Second Deputy Chairman Alexei Ivanov came from the Second Court of Cassation, where he worked from the first day - October 1, 2019of the year. Another deputy Ptitsyn took from "his" Southern District Military Court - Maxim Ivchenko.

Moscow appeal without a chairman

In September, Yuri Ryabtsov, 68-year-old chairman of the Moscow First Appeal Court of General Jurisdiction, left his post. He began working in the capital’s appeal even before its official opening on October 1, 2019: he gathered the staff of the court and prepared it for the “launch”, having received an appointment in 2018.

This is the second case so far when the courts of appeal and cassation of general jurisdiction formed in 2019 lose their heads. In 2020, Irina Podnosova left her position as chairman of the Second Court of Cassation, who received an offer to head the collegium of the Supreme Court on economic disputes.

New judges for the Supreme Court

Tamara Korchashkina, who was a member of the second composition of the administrative board of the Supreme Court, resigned in March. Korchashkina has worked in the Supreme Court since 1999 years old and managed to be a judge of the appellate and cassation boards, as well as the board of civil cases.

The competition for the vacant position in the administrative board of the Armed Forces was announced twice, but no one responded to the first application. But two candidates took part in the repeated competition at once. The application of Sergei Buzmakov, a judge of the First SOYU Appeal, was considered back in September - the HQCC then issued a recommendation to him without any questions. Larisa Golovkina, judge of the Second Court of Appeal, took part in the same competition as Buzmakov. But in September, her application was not considered, and shortly before the December meeting, the candidate withdrew her application and refused to participate in the competition.

At the time of publication, Buzmakov had not yet been appointed to the position by presidential decree.

Arbitration Courts: Moscow District

The 10th Arbitration Court of Appeal, which hears cases in the Moscow Region, may be left without a chairman. Inna Vorobieva, who has headed it since 2010, received a recommendation from the HQCC in September for the chair of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region. In this place, Vorobyova should replace Vyacheslav Kress, who back in 2019year changed the AS of the Moscow Region to the AS of the Moscow District. Now the Autonomous District of the Moscow Region does not have a chairman, and one of the deputy chairmen, Oleg Smirnov, performs his duties.

At the ASGM, two judges can be promoted to Deputy Chairman. These are Lidia Ageeva and Yulia Zhdanova, who received a recommendation from the VKKS in mid-December. Both have been working in the Moscow Arbitration Court for a long time and head the composition of the judiciary. Since Ageeva and Zhdanova applied for different competitions, they did not compete with each other for one place, which means that both will become deputy chairmen if they can pass the “presidential filter”.

In 2019, Ageeva contacted the Moscow Federal Security Service and said that Olga Alexandrova, deputy chairman of the ASGM, was putting pressure on her. This appeal led to the resignation of Alexandrova, who at the meeting of the HQCJ accused her colleague of careerism and “dirty methods of work” (for more details, the HQCJ deprived the deputy chairman of the ASGM Alexandrova from her powers).

A number of judges were given the opportunity to work in their former place for a new term. Natalya Okulova and Galina Karpova will remain as deputy chairmen of the Moscow District Arbitration Court for another six years. Andrey Solovyov will continue to be the Deputy Chairman of the AC of the Moscow Region. Sergei Sedov remains deputy chairman at 9-m AAS.

Other notable personnel changes

The composition of the Presidential Commission for the Preliminary Review of Appointment and Termination of Judges, which all candidates for federal judges who have received a recommendation from the HQCJ, passes through. Now the commission includes First Deputy Director of the FSB Sergei Korolev and Director of Rosfinmonitoring Yuri Chikhanchin. Former Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov was excluded from the commission.

Denis Plotnikov headed the Arbitration Court of the Volga District. He has served in the district court as deputy chairman since August 2013.

Alexander Orlov, who was reappointed in December, will remain Chairman of the Central District Arbitration Court for the next six years.

It became known who headed some district courts in Moscow. Artem Ustinov became the chairman of the Zamoskvoretsky district court, Yevgeny Zvyagin of the Preobrazhensky district court, Sergey Zakharchuk of the Cheryomushkinsky district court.

Yulia Martynenko was appointed permanent chairman of the Arbitration Court of the Republic of Crimea. In this position, she replaced Oleg Latynin, who headed the Crimean 21st AAC.

Vladimir Lipin was reappointed as the Chairman of the Arbitration Court of the Magadan Region, Vladimir Gushchev headed the Arbitration Court of the Yaroslavl Region, and Alexei Smirnikov - the Arbitration Court of the Astrakhan Region. Artem Drachen became the chairman of the Murmansk Region Arbitration Court.

In total, in 2021, Vladimir Putin signed 11 decrees on the appointment of judges.

The Supreme Court decided the fate of a judge with a fake diploma

Veronika Nikishina at the age of 17 got a job at the Leninogorsk City Court of Tatarstan as a consultant and worked in this position for almost 15 years. At the beginning of the 2000s, she received a diploma from the Moscow State Law Academy (MSLA) on higher legal education and in 2003 became a judge. And in October 2013, Vladimir Putin appointed her deputy chairman.

Nikishina did not complete her six-year term due to health problems. She voluntarily retired in 2016. And although she was a judge for only 13 years, she was credited with a long period of work as a consultant, and as a result, the total experience of judicial work exceeded 20 years. This allowed Nikishina to receive a judicial pension.

Judges

But a quiet life in retirement did not work out. In the summer of 2020, representatives of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Tatarstan and the regional Council of Judges suggested that Nikishina write a statement on ending her resignation of her own free will. The reason for this they called a fake diploma of the ex-judge. On July 7, Nikishina wrote a statement, and the very next day, the QCJ of Tatarstan approved her voluntary renunciation of all benefits due to retired judges. And she stopped getting monthly allowance.

In the summer of 2021, a year after the termination of the resignation, the ex-judge appealed to the Supreme Court. She asked the Administrative Division to reverse the decision of the QCJ.

"Psychological pressure"

Nikishina took part in the meeting of the Supreme Court via video-conferencing. She stressed that she had to write a statement about the termination of her resignation under "psychological pressure." “On July 7, I was strongly recommended to write a statement of my own free will, so that the reputation of the court would not suffer because of me. I took this threat realistically,” the applicant said.

- You indicated that you were subjected to "psychological pressure." By whom? In connection with what? - asked the judge Vyacheslav Kirillov.

“Before I wrote the application, a representative of the Judicial Department and a representative of the Supreme Court of Tatarstan spoke to me,” Nikishina replied.

— Is talking really psychological pressure?

- It depends in what manner. I was not afraid of anything, but the representative of the Supreme Court just yelled at me.

— So what was the psychological pressure if you were not afraid of anything?

— I have been working in court since I was 17, when the question arose that the reputation of the court would suffer... For me at that time it was important. I was in a state of shock. Well, there were words that “who butts all the time, then he himself ...” turns out to be the victim.

“I was misled. I was convinced of the absence of the right to resign, although I earned this right through many years of work.

Roman Davydov, deputy chairman of the KKS of Tatarstan, explained the situation with the diploma. He said that at the disposal of the qualification college there is a response from the Moscow State Law Academy, which says that the university has never issued a diploma with the number that appears in the document of the ex-judge. In addition, the academy did not have branches on the basis of the Leninogorsk Oil College, where Nikishin allegedly studied.

“There was no pressure on Nikishina, she applied voluntarily,” Davydov emphasized.

Missed deadlines and incorrect grounds

Kirillov asked Nikishina why she did not immediately challenge the decision of the QCJ in the Supreme Court: according to the Law on the Status of Judges (clause 13, article 6.1), she had only 10 days to do so. The ex-judge explained this by saying that she was "confused." But she assured me that now this condition has already passed, otherwise she would not have applied to the SC.

The representative of the KKS emphasized that Nikishina missed both the special 10-day appeal period and the three-month period stipulated by the Code of Administrative Procedure. “There are no convincing arguments for the restoration of the term, in our opinion,” Davydov said.

Judges

Nikishina said that only in May 2021 did she learn about the new circumstances in her case. It turned out that her resignation was terminated not of her own free will, but because she was engaged in activities incompatible with the status of a retired judge. But Nikishina herself assured that this was not true: from the moment she left the court, she had not done anything. Davydov, also speaking via video link, did not comment.

Another violation referred to by the complainant: the minutes of the QCJ meeting did not contain the results of voting on her case.

Kirillov drew attention to the fact that more than 10 months had passed since the decision of the QCJ until the day when Nikishina got acquainted with the case materials.

— Did anything prevent you from getting acquainted with the materials of the case, the protocol? asked the Judge.

Four hours by car if the road is normal. And they don’t provide a copy, saying that it’s not allowed, Nikishina explained.

— Did you immediately apply for a protocol?

- Immediately - no.

After examining the case, Judge Kirillov decided to dismiss Nikishina's complaint. Thus, the decision of the regional qualification board, which accepted the voluntary resignation of the former deputy chairman of the Leninogorsk city court, was recognized as legal, and Nikishina herself will remain without the benefits due to retired judges.

On the same day the Supreme Court considered the complaint of the justice of the peace from Leninogorsk Natalia Bortnikova. She also had to give up her retirement due to problems with her diploma. Read more about this story, which is very similar to the Nikishina case, in the article “The Supreme Court left without benefits the second judge with a fake diploma in a day.