No Degree, No Bar, No Problem: How Some States Let Anyone Be a Judge

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In states like West Virginia, you need over 1,200 hours of training and multiple exams just to cut hair—but to become a magistrate judge, all you need is to be 21, have a GED, and a clean record. These judges set bail, issue warrants, and preside over criminal cases without ever stepping foot in law school. Is this common-sense accessibility or a dangerous lowering of standards in the justice system?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Come on down.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
No law degree, no problem, no college degree, no problem.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey you've got your ged. You two can become a judge. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
I I couldn't believe this either.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
You learn something every day.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
In some states, and we've talked about this before, ridiculous
government regulation and government does this because they get paid
off by others in the industry. Like you need all
of this training to be an interior designer in some
states and you got to get licensed. Why to put
throw pillar somewhere? Yeah, in certain places. I saw this

(01:04):
one in West Virginia to become a barber. Become a barber,
the state demands twelve hundred hours of schooling at a
licensed institution or twenty four hundred twenty four hundred hours
of apprenticeship, a formal health certificate, and passage of three

(01:30):
separate examinations to become a barber. Interesting in the same state,
to become a magistrate judge, to become a magistrate judge.
The state demands that you only be twenty one years old,

(01:51):
hold a high school diploma or equivalent ged good enough diploma,
have no felony record, and reside in the county where
you serve. Now a barber again, barber's got to pass
state law exams. Yet the magistrate judge, this is who

(02:14):
sets bail issues, arrest warrants, here's criminal cases, does not
need to attend law school, graduate college, or pass.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
The bar Again. But I had no idea, is this
is like? This is not d This is DEI.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
On nineteen seventies anabolic steroids for crying out loud.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Again, it's not just West Virginia.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
South Carolina, North Carolina. What just happened there? And Arizona
also allow non lawyers to sit as magistrates. Hmmm uh
yeah again, why did they do this?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, you guessed it? D I, D I. We kind
of supposed to pride ourselves in this country like the
rule of law. And do you think.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
That do you think that you were serving you know,
a nation could serve the rule of law when we
are going to put people in courts that have not
a clue. I mean, I'm sorry, don't you think as
a citizen, you deserve a judge that knows what he

(03:45):
or she are actually doing. I guess I make fun
of that old commercial from you know, holiday in you.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Know jeez, you know.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
I never performed surgery before, but I stayed in a
holiday in Express last night.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
I mean, this is right out of that. For crying
out loud, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Okay, I don't know who allowed this, but we need
better judges on every level, and we cannot rely on
uneducated Dei style appointments for this nonsense. Could be me,
Call me crazy Watchdog on Wall Street dot Com