Why should you care about who becomes a judge?
If you have to go to court to enforce your rights, your fate is in the hands of a judge who will make a number of important decisions that could determine whether you win or lose your case:
- Will you be allowed to collect the evidence you need?
- Will you be allowed to proceed to trial?
- If you win at trial, will you be allowed to keep what the jury awards you?
- If your employer appeals after trial, will you still be able to win?
All of these are very important issues which will be decided by judges assigned to your case.
Even if you don't have to go to court yourself, judges' rulings may still affect you, your loved ones, or your coworkers. Judges' interpretations of the law may even affect how your employer treats you: if violations of the law go unpunished, your employer may be less likely to treat you fairly and follow the law.
As you should expect, many judges are intelligent, fair, and follow the law. Yet some judges are swayed by their own personal or political views, and produce decisions that ignore or contradict existing law or the intent of the legislature that enacted the law. Also, in many cases, the law itself provides just a framework or shell for resolving a particular dispute; it is left to judges to fill in the gaps not addressed by the law.
If your case is in federal court, your case will generally be heard by a judge who has "lifetime tenure," which means that federal judges are appointed for the rest of their lives; they are not subject to re-election, reappointment, or recall. This can be good, because it means that judges are less likely to be swayed by political considerations, such as what is most likely to be popular with the public, campaign contributors, or other politicians. 
However, because judges have lifetime tenure, the only time that members of the public can influence the process is at the beginning, when a federal judge is first nominated. Once a bad or biased judge is confirmed, there's little more that can be done.
How does someone become a federal judge?
The process of becoming a federal judge works as follows:
- The President designates all nominees to the three levels of the federal courts, generally on the basis of recommendations provided by home-state Senators.
- Once the President nominates a judicial candidate, the U.S. Senate then has the opportunity to approve or disapprove.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee reviews the nomination first. Each nominee has a hearing before the Committee, where they have an opportunity to respond to questions and discuss their background, such as previous judicial decisions, affiliation with certain groups, and the principles they will use to decide cases.
- If a nominee is approved by the Judiciary Committee, he or she is voted on by the full Senate. This can either happen quickly and without controversy, or be delayed and/or debated extensively.
- If the nominee receives a majority vote of the U.S. Senate, then she or he becomes a federal judge with lifetime tenure.
Most nominees who receive a hearing are confirmed, as many Senators feel that the President has a right to nominate whom he wants, and many nominees are highly qualified to become federal judges. However, since the party in the Senate majority can control who receives a hearing before the Judiciary Committee, sometimes certain nominees are not given a hearing and their nominations are thus prevented from proceeding.
The Senate Judiciary Committee may hold a hearing but reject the nominee through a majority vote of the Committee, preventing the nomination from proceeding further. The process can become very politicized, especially when the nominee holds views that are considered out of the mainstream, or that conflict with the strongly held beliefs of one or more Senators.
