Federal Judicial Vacancies And The United States

Under the U.S. Constitution, this appointment is a lifelong position that will only be nullified if the judge resigns their post or dies in office. This creates serious contests within the partisan political environment found among federal representatives, for any candidate appointed to this post helps define the direction of the Supreme Court for the rest of their life. Thus, it is frequently believed that a president who appoints a judge to the Supreme Court is creating a legacy, helping to shape the direction of the laws for the country for a time long after their presidency has expired. This makes the selection of a judge a hotly contested process.

Judicial power is given to the Supreme Court. All nine federal judges are appointed by the President and serve "during good behavior," usually meaning for life. The judges cannot be removed from office except for criminal behavior or malfeasance. This makes them less vulnerable to political pressure and outside influence. The main feature of the independent role for the courts lies in their power to interpret the Constitution. They review the "constitutionality" of laws and executive orders. There are

State court judges are selected in a variety of ways, including being selected by the governor of that State in which they reside or by the state legislature. In some cases, judges are able to run for election if they want to be a judge.

The United States district courts are the trial courts of the federal court system. The district courts have jurisdiction over every category of federal cases ranging from civil cases to criminal cases. There are 94 federal judicial districts, including at least one district in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The Virgin Islands; Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are three U.S. territories that have district courts that hear federal cases, including bankruptcy cases.

Numerous Americans are unaware that by next year, the average age of Supreme Court justices will be 75. Unlike other countries, the United States’ Supreme Court does not enforce the idea of term limits. Once a judge is selected, when they leave the Supreme Court is up to their decision. Supreme Court justices may choose to retire early or die. However, as the judges are getting older and older, their health may intervene with the decisions that are being made. Issues regarding the health of the justices’ would not be a reoccurring annoyance if they were to be swapped out with younger and healthier judges; therefore, term limits are a good idea because there would be more diversity in the Supreme Court, mental and health issues would be reduced, and term limits would be long enough for judges to master the job.

In Texas, the Judicial system is made of up judges whose jurisdiction ranges from municipal, county, probate, district, and justice of the peace courts, each of which undergoes an election process, one which is the same for each judge, expect for the municipal. An advocate for another system, Wallace Jefferson, firmly believes that an appointment system should take place for all judges to assure that those who are put into a position are done so based off of merit and qualification. However, given the current system, judges, per say those who wish to serve on a district court, must adhere to these requirements. Judges must be a U.S. citizen, a resident of Texas, have been practicing law as a lawyer or state judge for at least four years, be between the ages of 25 and 75 and be a resident of their respective judicial district for two years, minimum.

The three tiers of the American federal court system consists of the Supreme Court, District courts which are also referred to trial courts, Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.

As mentioned the judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and inferior federal Courts, and the Supreme Court checks and balances the other branches through its power of judicial review. Congress has the constitutional power to create tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court and to change the number of judges. The president nominates the federal judges with the approval of Congress.

Each state within the United States of America (USA) has its own unique judicial selection process within its court system. The judicial processes vary from court to court depending on a particular state. This paper analyses these processes, the qualifications for selecting the judges and the steps for removing judges from office, as it applies in the USA states of New York and Texas.

The court is comprised of 9 members, a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. A minimum or quorum of 6 justices is required to decide a case.

The federal courts came about beginning in 1789 when Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 (Neubauer & Fradella, 2008. pg. 65). However, there was a lot of controversy in regards to the act because advocates feared that a strong national government would weaken individual liberties and be a threat to the power of state courts (Neubauer & Fradella, 2008. pg. 65). The act even though federal, still had some ties to the state level courts. One of the first issues was the boundaries of the federal district courts would not encompass more than one state. The second was the selection process would ensure that federal judges would be residents of their districts and lastly, the lower federal courts would have limited jurisdiction (Neubauer &

It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" (majority vote) of the Senate , eight judges include The Judicial Branch of the U.S. government is made up of federal courts and judges. The judges are appointed by the President of the United States and they are confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Federal Supreme Court judges, also called Justices, are appointed for life, and because they are not elected they are free to make decisions based on conscience not on election

The appointment and conformation to the Supreme Court has become on of the most sought after and most prestigious positions in the U.S. Government. In the past two hundred years the Supreme Court has changed in many different ways and with each decision affecting the delicate balance of the U.S. legal system the appointment of justices has become a very watched over subject. In all conformation and appointment to the Supreme Court there is politics involved but with each presiding president their agenda is focused towards appointing a justice that expresses their ideas on the court.

Constitution, and “appoints federal judges by advice and consent of the Senate” (SITE, p.). The judicial branch is comprised of the Federal, District, and Appeals Courts, which judge cases concerning federal law, but the Supreme Court decides if the law agrees with the U.S. Constitution. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080521155230AAz04SP

There are 94 different federal trial courts call District Courts. The role of these district courts are to hear civil and criminal cases. Those district courts are broken down into 12 different regional circuits, each of the 12 regional circuits have their own court of appeals. These court of appeals deals with appeals within their circuit. Those appeals are then heard and their fate is then decided based on the record that was given before the District Court. All the cases that involve juvenile issues, child custody and Dupree cases, inheritance/probate cases, real estate, as well as most cases that involve criminal prosecution, personal injury cases, disputes and contracts, as well as public health cases. Each state handle local laws, has its own police, and court system. Each court system has its own Supreme Court which is known as the court of last resort. Local crimes in cases go before their local courts and from there it's it is decided whether or not the case goes before the state, supreme, or federal court.