Civics question 55 of 128
How long do Supreme Court justices serve?
3 accepted answers
- (For) life
- Lifetime appointment
- (Until) retirement
You only need to give one of these. The officer accepts any of them.
Source: official USCIS question list for the 2025 version of the civics test. This site is independent and not affiliated with USCIS.
Background
Supreme Court justices serve for life, and retirement or lifetime appointment are also accepted answers. The Constitution's actual phrase is that judges hold their offices during good behavior, which has always been read as tenure with no fixed term, and it covers every federal judge appointed under Article III rather than the Supreme Court alone. Their salaries also cannot be reduced while they serve. Most justices leave by choosing to retire and a few have died in office. Removal is possible only through impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate, and no justice has ever been removed that way. Proposals for a fixed term or a mandatory retirement age surface regularly, but changing the tenure would take a constitutional amendment rather than an ordinary statute.
This background section is written by US Citizenship Test Practice to explain the civics fact. It is not part of the USCIS question list, and the official answer above is the one to give at the interview.
Where this question sits
It is part of System of Government, inside the American Government section of the test.
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