State High Court Judicial Selection Systems and Elevation to the Federal Bench.

While there is a considerable body of scholarship devoted to examining the political ambitions of elected actors, there is scant research concerning the career goals of judicial actors. Moreover, while a growing body of law and society scholarship in the political ambition tradition has begun to address the elevation of judges within the federal judiciary, there lacks subsequent research on the ability of state judges to transition to the federal court system. To remedy this deficiency, I examine the elevation of state court of last resort judges to the federal courts from 1965-2001 to determine the key selection criteria for these judges' appointment to the federal bench. I argue that the methods in which state court judges are selected for service on the state bench is a key explanation for their subsequent appointment to the federal courts. Given this, this research has considerable implications for future work in judicial decision making, federal-state relations, and political ambition theory. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]