J.+Elections,+Qualifications+&+Terms

Elections, qualifications, and terms:

Election process of the Judiciary Branch: In the Constitution, it says that with the Supreme Court, the president nominates the people that are on it and the legislative branch has to agree to that nomination. Both the Executive and the Legislative have a say on who will be part of the Supreme Court. They can even determine the final number of justices that serve. The legislative branch determines how many people make up a court and they also have the power to establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court and establishes the district courts. The Legislative branch and the Executive branch can shape the court to their liking because of Article 3 in the Constitution which establishes the Judicial Branch.

Election qualifications: There are no specific qualifications for being part of the Judicial Branch, but there are some things that the president does consider when they nominate people to make up the court. They have to have some sort of experience in the government or on a state/federal level. In order to qualify for the experience portion, they have to have a law degree or to have a higher level of education. They have to have a similar political ideology as the president, and the president considers ethnicity and gender. Today, the recent presidents that we have had, have put African Americans, Latinos, people of other ethnic minority groups, and women onto the court. With presidents that we have had in the past, you had to be white and a male in order to be nominated by the president.



Election terms: The justices in the supreme court can hold office for as long as they choose to. They may either retire, serve their term until death, be impeached by the Executive branch or convicted by the Senate. They don’t have a fixed term. Why there is no fixed election terms is because it keeps only law and justice in mind instead of political concerns.

Sources ~ "The Judicial Branch." The White House. The White House, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015. ~ "How Judges and Justices Are Chosen." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.