Experience in private practice, courts and elected office most common among U.S. Supreme Court justices the Court justices by prior experience Note: Justices may be included in multiple categories. Elected elections. "Justice Department refers to roles at the
Supreme Court justices tend to come from similar backgrounds. Seven of the eight current Supreme Court justices, for example, previously served as federal appeals court judges. (Only Elena Kagan did not.) When looking at 112 current or former justices, the vast majority had prior experience in private legal practice, according to a Pew Research Center analysis in March 2017. More than half had previously served as judges on either federal or state courts or held elected office.
Experience in private practice, courts  | and elected office most common  | among U.S. Supreme Court justices  | the Court justices by prior experience  | 105  | Private practice  | 69  | Judge  | Elected office  | 58  | 38  | Military  | Prosecutor  | 33  | Justice Department  | 24  | Higher education  | 23  | Note: Justices may be included in multiple categories. Elected  | office' excludes prosecutor and judge positions filled through  | elections. "Justice Department refers to roles at the  | depa rtment's federal headquarters, such as a ttorney general,  | assistant attorney general or solicitor ge neral. *Prosecutor"  | refers to state, district or county-level prosecutorial positions.  | Source: Pew Research Center Chicago analysis of data from the  | Supreme Court, Oyez IIT Chicago Kent College of Law and the  | Supreme Court Historical Society.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 