February 25, 2019, the Court in Rizo v. Yovino, ___ U.S. ___ (2019) refused to address the merits of 
the case (an important employment wage discrimination case) because the judge who wrote the Ninth 
Circuit opinion died eleven days before its release. What will likely become an oft-quoted sentiment, 
“Federal judges are appointed for life, not for eternity.” 
The district courts appoint federal magistrate judges to either four or eight-year terms. Though it 
would seem that politics has played an increasing role in the selection of judges in the federal system, 
perceptions are influenced by what we currently hear and read. The reality is that complaints of political 
overreaching in selecting federal judges have been with us since the federal courts were first staffed. 
Link to Washington Post showing political judicial appointments since President 
Reagan https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/politics/trump-federal-
judges/?utm_term=.479982ef3fd6) 
Link to Washington Post article showing political party breakdown in the confirmation of 
Justice Gorsuch in 2017 and comparing the breakdown with other current U.S. Supreme Court 
justices https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/scotus-confirmation-votes/?tid=graphics-
story&utm_term=.35b33aa30d39 
A 1952 article shows that the role of politics in judicial selection is not only a recent 
concern https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1952012300 
 
Judicial Clerk, Law Clerk, and Judicial Assistants 
Generally, judges have one or two main assistants. These individuals are known as “judicial clerk”, “clerk 
of court”, “law clerk”, or “judicial assistant”. Of course, there may be several court clerks who interact each 
day with all the judges in the courthouse, but generally, judges have only one or two judicial assistants 
who work directly with them. The clerk of court works directly with the trial judge and is responsible for 
court records and paperwork both before and after the trial. Usually, each judge has his or her own clerk. 
The clerk prepares all case files that a judge will need for the day. During hearings and the trial, these clerks 
record and mark physical evidence introduced in the trial, swear in the witnesses, or administer the oath 
to the witness, take notes cataloging the recordings, etc. In some jurisdictions, the law clerks are lawyers 
who have just completed law school and may have already passed the bar exam. In other jurisdictions, the 
law clerks are not legally trained but may have specialized paralegal training or legal assistant training. 
Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System
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