Jake Kobrick, Associate Historian,
Federal Judicial Center, has published
The History of the Federal Judicial Appointment Process,
Social Education 80 (2016): 141–45. (
Social Education is an open-access publication of the National Council for the Social Studies.) From the article:
The judiciary is quite possibly the least well-known of the three branches that make up the federal government, and many are unaware of how judges come to join its ranks. This piece gives a brief history of the appointment process, especially for federal courts below the U.S. Supreme Court.