Table 7.1

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Supreme Courts Compared

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	Switzerland	France	Germany	U.S.
Number of justices	54*	11	11	9
Justices nominated by...	legislature	president	prime minister	president
Justices approved by...	legislature	legislature	legislature	2/3 of Senate
Length of term	six years	life	life	life
Percent of judges who are attorneys+	less than 80%	more than 90%	more than 90%	100%
Power to declare local laws void	yes**	yes	yes	yes
Power to declare federal laws void***	no	(yes)	(yes)	yes

Source: Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, "Supreme courts compared," Research Memorandum, 1999, copyright AdTI, all rights reserved.

Notes: * -- Thirty-nine justices on the federal court and members of the federal insurance court. Does not include thirty-nine "extraordinary" alternate justices for the main court or nine for the insurance court, which would bring the total to 92.

** -- This power is used more sparingly in Switzerland than in the other countries; see chapter 13.

⁺ -- From last fifty justices for U.S. and Switzerland; current members of German and French courts.

*** -- French and German justices have rights of judicial review but it is more recent and less sweeping than the American use of the principle.