The Selection of Judges: The Independence of the Federal Courts

Mr. Bloch is disturbed about the gradually increasing influence of the Attorney General in the selection of federal judges. During the last twenty years, he writes, the Department of Justice has become the chief litigant in federal courts, and at the same time the Attorney General, who heads the Department, has become the President's chief adviser in appointing members of the Federal Bench who will try the cases brought by the Department. Mr. Bloch proposes a constitutional amendment to change the method of selecting federal judges so as to prevent any possible curtaliment of the independence of the judiciary. This article is taken from an address delivered before the Judicial Conference of the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans last year.