<P> Unlike the offices of President, U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator, there is no minimum age for Supreme Court justices set forth in the United States Constitution . However, justices tend to be appointed after having made significant achievements in law or politics, which excludes many young potential candidates from consideration . At the same time, justices appointed at too advanced an age will likely have short tenures on the Court . </P> <P> The youngest justice ever appointed was Joseph Story, 32 at the time of his appointment in 1812; the oldest was Charles Evans Hughes, who was 67 at the time of his appointment as Chief Justice in 1930 . (Hughes had previously been appointed to the Court as an associate justice in 1910, at the age of 48, but had resigned in 1916 to run for president). Story went on to serve for 33 years, while Hughes served 11 years after his second appointment . The oldest justice at the time of his initial appointment was Horace Lurton, 65 at the time of his appointment in 1909 . Lurton died after only four years on the Court . The oldest sitting justice to be elevated to Chief Justice was Hughes' successor, Harlan Fiske Stone, who was 68 at the time of his elevation in 1941 . Stone died in 1946, only five years after his elevation . The oldest nominee to the court was South Carolina senator William Smith, nominated in 1837, then aged around 75 (it is known that he was born in 1762, but not the exact date). The Senate confirmed Smith's nomination by a vote of 23--18, but Smith declined to serve . </P> <P> Of the justices currently sitting, the youngest at time of appointment was Clarence Thomas, who was 43 years old at the time of his confirmation in 1991 . As of the beginning of the 2017--18 term, Neil Gorsuch is the youngest justice sitting, at 50 years of age . The oldest person to have served on the Court was Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who stepped down two months shy of his 91st birthday . John Paul Stevens, second only to Holmes, left the court in June 2010, two months after turning 90 . </P> <P> The average age of the Court as a whole fluctuates over time with the departure of older justices and the appointment of younger people to fill their seats . The average age of the Court is 72 years, 11 months . Just prior to the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist in September 2005, the average age was 71 . After Sonia Sotomayor was appointed in August 2009, the average age at which current justices were appointed was about 53 years old . </P>

Who is the youngest appointed supreme court justice