The president only nominates them. The Senate confirms. Until the obama administration, judges required a supermajority of the senate to confirm, but a gop minority were filibustering all his nominees. So he asked the senate to remove the filibuster for judges. It was really the only use of the filibuster that made sense. Most democracies have independent commissions. Perhaps they all do now...

Yes. It's incredible that:

1. The loopholes were not exploited sooner.

2. No one cares about patching them, not before real-world identification, and not even after identification. They only keep increasing.

The only saving grace has been the two term limit of the President.