Kobrick on the History of Federal Judicial Appointments

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.