judicial-system

When the president mulls filling a Supreme Court seat, the whole country watches. When he appoints a federal judge, few take notice. There are, after all, hundreds of federal judges. Yet these appointments, too, are for life. And because the judges wield significant power, they are at the core of a president’s legacy. In this explainer, we discuss how the federal courts work, their mandates, and how judges are appointed.

State supreme court judges who rely on public financing to fund their elections become less likely to favor attorneys who have donated to their campaigns in the past, a 2016 study suggests.

Linda Greenhouse, who reported on the Supreme Court for three decades for The New York Times, shared her thoughts about the polarization of the nation’s highest court as well as President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland and and the legacy of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.