The reason why it is less important to be a judge in order to serve on the Supreme Court is that the Supreme Court is only deciding on constitutional issues. By the time the court agrees to take a case, it has already been the subject of rounds of litigation in the lower courts. In other words, all you really need to be is an expert on the constitution. Keep in mind I am not defending this nominee. I am not happy with her either. I am not happy with her only because she isn't a known entity. I don't want to hope she will uphold the constitution. I want to know she will. As far as her not being a judge, it doesn't bother me at all. I don't believe William Rehnquist was a judge before he was appointed and I think he turned out to be a great chief justice.