depending on where you live... village/ township and county judges are elected, and in some places the only requirement to be a judge is that you are legally eligible to vote... scary?
State judges are often appointed and then subject to voters whim... depending on the type of court (criminal or family) while as far as i recall federal judges are appointed at the whim of the president (with senate approval) and they serve for life... or until they choose to retire.
Often times Federal judges choose to interpret the statutes and constitution in new and perverse ways... if they can get it to stick on appeal it becomes in law in fact, principle of "stare decisis" i believe. thus a judge can make a law.
Miranda good... obtaining evidence under false pretenses bad... if there was no reason for the search and seizure the evidence needs to be suppressed