Retire or resign   What distinguishes a justice that retires from one that resigns     The precise requirements have varied over time but in general a Justice who chooses to leave the Court is permitted to retire rather than resign provided that he or she has met certain minimum requirements for age and time in office A Justice may also retire rather than resign if the Chief Justice certifies that he or she is disabled from performing the duties of office before there was general disability legislation Congress would sometimes enact a special law allowing a Justice to retire The principal difference between retiring and resigning is that a retired Justice continues to receive his or her salary and is also permitted to serve on panels of lower federal courts if he or she wishes whereas a resigned Justice is no longer a member of the judiciary at all For more information see Retired justices of the Supreme Court of the United States and senior judge      Thank you I had been wondering if there was any real difference  And thank you for putting the notice on my talk page  I had stopped watching this page