This study focuses on the 68 persons appointed to lifetime Federal district court positions and the 19 appointed to lifetime Federal appeals court posts, all of whom were confirmed by the Senate during the 97th Congress. Data sources included standard biographical sources, State legislative handbooks, and newspapers from the appointees' home States, as well as the published and not yet published confirmation hearings from the 97th Congress and the questionnaires completed by the nominees for the Senate Judiciary Committee. In terms of experience, the appointees have tended to follow the pattern of the Carter Administration in having judicial experience instead of prosecutorial experience. A majority of the Reagan appointees attended private (including Ivy League) schools for their undergraduate training. Whereas the Carter Administration sought to recruit women, blacks, and other minorities for judgeships, the Reagan Administration has appeared passive if not indifferent toward affirmative action goals in appointments. If the ratings of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary are considered a rough measure of the quality of the appointees, the Reagan appointments are on the whole less distinguished than the Carter mid-term appointments. Most Reagan appointees are spread over the middle to upper income spectrum, with average incomes greater than the Carter appointments, suggesting a class difference between the Republican and Democratic appointees as a group. Reagan appointees also show a careful ideological and political screening that may even surpass that of the Carter Administration. Tabular data and 15 footnotes are provided.