Federal judge
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A federal judge is a judge appointed in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution. All federal judges are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. The federal judiciary includes the United States Supreme Court, thirteen courts of appeals (also called 'circuit courts') with appellate jurisdiction over different regions of the United States, over 100 United States district courts.
Life tenure
"Article III" federal judges are appointed for life. However, the judges of some of the courts with special jurisdictions, among them federal magistrates and bankruptcy judges, are appointed for specified terms by the administrative bodies of the federal judiciary and are sometimes called federal judges. Therefore most federal judges hold their seats until they resign, die, or are impeached and convicted by the U.S. Congress. Since the impeachment process requires a trial by the United States Senate, and since the Constitutional provision concerning federal judges' tenure cannot be changed without the ratifications of three-fourths of the (now 50) states, federal judges have the best job security available in the United States. 20th-century experience seems to indicate that Congress is not willing to take time out of its busy schedule to impeach a federal judge until, after criminal conviction, the judge is in prison and still drawing his judge's salary, which cannot otherwise be taken away.