So far, roughly 40 percent of the cases voted on by all nine sitting justices have been unanimous.

In these cases, 21 rulings have been 9-0, and 14 have been 5-4. Other margins were less common: 6-3 has occurred 10 times, 7-2 five times, and a 8-1 split twice.

A 2018 analysis showed that since 2000, 36 percent of Supreme Court decisions have been a 9-0 vote. Other large majority decisions (7-2 or 8-1) represented about 15 percent of the decisions. Split 5-4 decisions occurred 19 percent of the time.

When Gorsuch was confirmed, Scalia’s seat had been empty for 422 days — the longest Supreme Court vacancy in a century. The gap stretched between the Obama and Trump administrations — Senate Republicans refused to hold a vote on President Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland, arguing that the seat shouldn’t be filled by an outgoing president.

The number of Supreme Court justices is set by Congress, per the Constitution. Over the years, Congress has passed acts changing this number from as few as five to as many as 10. Currently, under the Judiciary Act of 1869, the court is fixed at nine justices.

Justice Kagan had no prior judicial experience when President Obama nominated her. In fact, there are no official requirements for becoming a Supreme Court justice, including age, nationality or even holding a law degree.

Many senators cited Kagan’s inexperience as a factor in voting against her in 2010, but her situation was not unprecedented. Before her confirmation, 40 of the 111 Supreme Court justices had never been a judge prior to joining the bench.

However, Justice Kagan brought a wealth of experience to the table. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986, where she was the supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review. She went on to clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall and served as associate counsel for the Clinton White House. In 2003, Kagan was named dean of Harvard Law, and in 2009, under President Obama, she became the first-ever female solicitor general. In 2010, she was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a 63-37 vote.

Justices Sotomayor and Ginsburg have agreed on roughly 93 percent of the cases granted with arguments for the 2018 term.

Sotomayor has voted least often with Justice Thomas during this period — but they still agree on the majority of cases, voting the same way roughly 53 percent of the time. Justices Breyer and Thomas have agreed the least. They vote together nearly 52 percent of the time.

Justice Alito is one of four current Supreme Court justices who count themselves as Yale Law alums. Four other justices attended Harvard Law. Even Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the lone standout, studied at Harvard before transferring to Columbia Law, which means that every current justice studied at either Harvard or Yale.

Historically, almost half of all SCOTUS justices who received a J.D. got it from Harvard, Yale or Columbia. Even more attended Ivy League schools as undergraduates.

This is something of a trick question: The chief justice decides who writes the court’s opinion only if he or she votes in the majority. Otherwise, the most senior justice in the majority decides.

The chief justice’s powers are largely the same as associate justices’, and the influence of any given chief justice has varied. His or her primary duties include presiding over the court during arguments and in private meetings, where the justices decide which cases to hear and how to vote. Under the Constitution, the chief justice is tasked with overseeing presidential impeachments.

There’s no need to rise through the ranks to become chief. Most of the time, a chief justice is directly appointed. In fact, only five of the 17 chief justices have served as associate justices.

Breyer says he served coffee to other justices during his 11 years as the court’s newest member. It’s typically the role of the so-called junior justice to serve on the cafeteria committee, open doors and take notes. Per tradition, he or she also speaks last during the justices’ private meetings.

Though Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, Breyer had filled the seat of another justice who retired. Fifty-six justices have retired, and 49 have died in office.

Only one justice has ever been impeached in the history of the court: Justice Samuel Chase in 1805. He was ultimately acquitted.

Justice Ginsburg’s confirmation was overwhelmingly bipartisan. When President Bill Clinton nominated her in 1993, only three Republicans voted against her.

Votes for the justices have gotten closer since Ginsburg’s confirmation. Breyer, whose 1994 appointment followed Ginsburg’s, was confirmed with an 87-9 vote. Justice Roberts was next in 2005, with a 78-22 confirmation. Since then, none of the justices have been confirmed by more than 70 votes.

In the history of the court, only six Supreme Court justices have been confirmed unanimously. Twelve have been rejected. George Washington holds the record for most appointments with 11, though one — John Rutledge — also became the nation’s first ever rejection after the Senate voted to remove him from office following his recess appointment in 1795.

In 2016, Thomas surprised the court with a series of questions — his first in 10 years. Thomas once said he doesn’t like to “badger” lawyers during the typical 30-minute window they have to make their arguments to the court. He has also said that he was made fun of for speaking the low country dialect Gullah when growing up, which affected his inclination to ask questions.

The case that broke Justice Thomas’ silence was Voisine v. United States. Central to the case was the argument that a person convicted of a “reckless” domestic assault has committed a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Under federal statutes, individuals who have been convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence are prohibited from possessing firearms. During oral arguments, Thomas asked for examples of “another area where a misdemeanor suspends a constitutional right.”