Who Inhabits the Federal Judiciary? Sociopolitical Origins and Professional Trajectories of the Judicial Elite

This chapter delves into the world of judges through the description of their sociopolitical origins. How has the judicial family been constructed? In the study of political elites, it is confirmed that representatives generally enter the world of politics and attain positions through family. However, in the case of the surveyed judges, the collected data shows that current judges and magistrates did not enter the judiciary following a family tradition. Instead, access into the judiciary represented a change and upward social mobility for judges and their families. Different to what expected, the current judicial family is an interesting mix of meritocratic efforts, professional networks, and personal convictions derived from the prestige gained by the institution after its reform in 1994.