Martin is forty-three and is married with two children. As a lawyer, his ultimate goal would be to become a judge, one of the loftier goals a man in his position can reasonably attain. Although he never seriously thought that it would be a possibility, with one of the judges in his state on the verge or retirement, it might just happen for him. Should he succeed, the road before him will undoubtedly be long and hard.
One of the biggest challenges that lie ahead of judges is the fact that these men and women have to lead public lives from here on out if they have not yet done so. There are some attorneys who have handled very big cases to the point where they are practically household names themselves. However, for those who are a bit more low profile or are not accustomed to being in the public eye, this publicity may come as a major shock and will be difficult to adjust to.
This is not something that the judges themselves have to deal with alone. By extension, this also affects their friends and families. It may even be more difficult for families to deal with in this case. Being in the public eye means constant scrutiny, and, not unlike what politicians have to go through, should there be anything in your past that you do not want brought up years later – a nasty habit or a bad lawsuit, for example – then one can expect some knowledge of it to leak. Those who aspire for this position need to be prepared to face these things as they are exposed, whether to the community in general or perhaps to a bar association judicial evaluation committee, particularly during the evaluation of their candidacy. The same scrutiny applies for every decision they make whilst in office. Should a decision prove controversial in the eyes of the public, backlash is inevitable.
Another thing to note would be the costs and the grand effort it takes to even become a judge in the first place. For those who wish to run for judicial office, they have to declare themselves members of a political party, which means having to get involved in the activities of that party. Fundraising for their judicial campaign is another concern, an activity not within most candidates' comfort zones and never an easy thing to do even for those who live for the public eye.
In his case, Martin was once the top of his class in law school and is well known for his intelligence. But for him or any other lawyer to think those attributes alone are enough would indicate a level of naivete that is unbecoming of the profession.
No matter how qualified you may be, judgeship is never guaranteed. One must go above and beyond for the position, and, once it is attained, the challenges presented by the job will pop up daily. This is something that Martin is no doubt aware of, and hopefully the same can be said of every other candidate out there.
