But until the recent past, it was common for Supreme Court justices to be drawn from the ranks of elected officials and distinguished lawyers who had never been judges. Another of President Nixon's choices, Lewis F. Powell Jr., was a prominent lawyer who had served as president of the American Bar Association and chairman of the Richmond, Va., school board.
Of the 108 people who have served on the Supreme Court, only 48 - fewer than half - were drawn from the ranks of sitting judges. And while judges do make up the biggest single biographical category, there have also been 25 practicing lawyers, 9 attorneys general or deputy attorneys general, 7 holders of other cabinet positions, 6 senators, 2 members of the House of Representatives, 3 governors, 2 solicitors general and 2 law professors.
