One has to be a lawyer to be a federal judge. So the answer is “both.”
lawyer (noun)
- a person who has been trained in the law, esp. one whose profession is advising others in matters of law
judge (noun)
- an elected or appointed public official with authority to hear and decide cases in a court of law
anecdote (noun)
- Obsolete little-known, entertaining facts of history or biography; a short, entertaining account of some happening.
No, I offered the opinion of a legal professional with whom I spoke. Whether or not I can prove I spoke with him is irrelevant. The statement “A defendant who refuses to provide a defense is subject to a default judgment” is provable and not anecdotal evidence.
I’m not arguing that point with you any further. It’s a distraction from the facts under discussion.
It speaks to veracity. You originally stated that it was an attorney but making your source a FEDERAL judge gives it more "POW", right? And it still makes it an anecdotal and unprovable source.
Actually, not. They generally are, but it is not required.
from http://www.uscourts.gov/faq.html:
Q: What are the qualifications for becoming a federal judge?
The Constitution sets forth no specific requirements. However, members of Congress, who typically recommend potential nominees, and the Department of Justice, which reviews nominees' qualifications, have developed their own informal criteria.
Or from the Federal Judicial Center
What are the qualifications for becoming a federal judge?
Although there are almost no formal qualifications for federal judges, there are some strong informal ones. For example, while magistrate judges and bankruptcy judges are required by statute to be lawyers, there is no statutory requirement that district judges, circuit judges, or Supreme Court justices be lawyers. But it would be unheard-of for a president to nominate someone who is not a lawyer. Before their appointment, most judges were private attorneys, but many were judges in state courts or other federal courts. Some were government attorneys and a few were law professors.