With the Senate's approval of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court on Thursday, the new justice will soon take on one of the most demanding jobs in the land.
Let's see. Each Justice has to write eight or nine opinions a year, plus several dissents or concurrences, with the assistance of four law clerks. While doing so, they manage to write books, lecture, and take the Summer off. Justice Thomas travels the country in his Winnebago. Other Justices have cushy lecturing jobs in Europe. Some elderly Justices almost literally have to be carried out of the Court when they die or become mentally incompetent, because the job is so "demanding." It's hard to see how an 89 year old Justice Stevens could keep up if he had the "one of the most demanding jobs in the land."
Powerful? Yes. Intellectually challenging? Yes. Stressful? It would stress me out to have to decide, e.g., whether abortion would be legal, but the Justices seem to cope a lot better than I would, and they do have a lifetime job and no boss, which eliminates two major sources of stress for many people. Among the most demanding in the land? Hardly. My impression is that many lower court federal judges work much harder year-round than the average Supreme Court Justice.