State and Federal Judges

2-2 Short Paper: State and Federal Judges

Arturo Burgos
Southern New Hampshire
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When it comes to State judges, Qualifications for the position vary from state to state.

Some judges are appointed by politicians in office, or voted in by the people. “Most states do not

require justices of the peace to or magistrates to have law degrees, but such degrees are usually

required for trial and appellate judges (Carp, R. A. ,2017).” In order to become a state judge, one

must complete the required education credentials in order to qualify. This includes completion of

an undergraduate program and the completion of Law school, passing the bar exam, and obtain a

judgeship. As with most positions in government politics is a main motivator for the position.

There are some exceptions however, such as in the state of Kentucky which hosts nonpartisan

elections in which candidates are voted based on their merits, rather than backing through

political affiliation. Judges duties vary from state-to-state, for example, in the state of California,

“magistrate judges conduct pretrial proceedings in civil and criminal cases, including law and

motion matters, settlement conferences, initial appearances, and bail hearings.” (NCSC). Other

duties for the Magistrate judges include presiding over court trials in civil cases as well as trials

and dispositions of misdemeanor cases.

For Federal Judges, the requirements are a bit different from State judges. According to

the U.S. court “The Constitution sets forth no specific requirements on becoming a federal

judge. However, members of Congress, who typically recommend potential nominees, and the

Department of Justice, which reviews nominees' qualifications, have developed their own

informal criteria. [FAQ].” This isn’t without its controversy, as supreme court judges, who have

some the highest authorities in law aren’t required to degrees in law. A federal Judges job is to

withhold the constitution, which is already easy for reinterpretation for malicious purposes, but

appointing potentially biased individuals will always cause a divide.

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When boiled down to whose job is harder, there is no clear indicator of difficulty in either

role that gives one an edge. State judges deal with issues ranging from family disputes, to

vehicular violations, to various misdemeanors, Federal judges are in charge of withholding the

constitution and overhearing cases that violate it, along with other major cases such as individual

rights from Roe vs Wade, to the corporate bailouts such as in Wall Street. Personally, much in

the same way we are allowed to vote for a president, we the people should be allowed to have

more power and say by electing all of our officials. I also would change the requirements in

order to have to best possible judge we could find. One who can truly put their biases aside, and

make impartial decisions for the betterment of our country, and those who live in it.

References:
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Carp, R. A., Stidham, R., Manning, K. L., & Holmes, L. M. (n.d.). Judicial Process in America
.SAGE

Courts, U. S. (2017). FAQ:Federal Judges. Retrieved from United States Courts:

http://www.uscourts.gov/faqs-federal-judges#faq-What-are-the-qualifications-for-becoming-a-
federal-judge?

Judges | National Center for State Courts. (2018, January 06). Retrieved from
https://www.ncsc.org/topics/human-resources/job-descriptions/judicial/judges.aspx