Appointment of Supreme Court Judges in USA and India

Abstract

The proposed work will analyze the procedure of appointment of judges in the USA and compare it with the appointment of judges of the Indian Supreme Court. The present work will evaluate whether the collegium system is suitable or some other mechanism is suitable for the appointment of judges in the higher judiciary of India.

This research work is Analytical Research. This work is based on constitutional law, statutory laws and judgments of the Supreme Court and High Courts of India and the highest Court of the USA., Books, reports, international conventions, Articles and materials from websites, databases, libraries etc. 

Currently, the Memorandum of Procedure for appointing Supreme Court judges excludes the role of High Court judges. Judges’ appointment procedures in India can be divided into two categories. These categories are (i) judges’ appointment before ‘Second Judges Case’, and (ii) judges’ appointment after ‘Second Judges Case’. The ‘Collegium’ has real power to appoint judges in India. This system is criticized on the basis of the ‘appointment of judges by judges’. The Executive, with segregation, delay and multiple returns of names in appointing higher judiciary judges, tries to override the power of the ‘Collegium’. It becomes clear from Justice Joseph’s elevation controversy.

The Collegium started making recommendations public on October 03, 2017. But it stopped on October 15, 2019. The decision not to share recommendations in detail affects transparency in the appointment of judges. 

This study can be useful for reviewing the appointment of judges in the Supreme court of India in the area of Constitutional Law.

Till now, only 4.34% and 4.29 % of women got opportunities to serve in the highest courts of the US and India, respectively. Such representation is not gender parity.