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Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Law
Show Me The Money: An Empirical Analysis Of Interest Group Opposition To Federal Courts Of Appeals Nominees, Donald E. Campbell, Marcus Hendershot
Show Me The Money: An Empirical Analysis Of Interest Group Opposition To Federal Courts Of Appeals Nominees, Donald E. Campbell, Marcus Hendershot
Journal Articles
Contemporary views of the federal judicial appointment process are grounded in themes of obstruction and gridlock. Within this environment, interest groups find fertile ground to target, and sometimes successfully oppose, judicial nominees that once automatically moved through the appointment process and ended in confirmation. While interest group involvement and influence is an accepted fact, much less is known about the efficacy of these groups in carrying out their objective of correctly identifying ideological outlier nominees. This article asks the question: Do interest groups correctly identify and target nominees who are ideological outliers? The article implements a research design that evaluates …
The Call And The Response: The Call, The 1991 Open Letter From Federal Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., And The 25 Years Of Response From Justice Clarence Thomas, Angela Mae Kupenda
The Call And The Response: The Call, The 1991 Open Letter From Federal Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., And The 25 Years Of Response From Justice Clarence Thomas, Angela Mae Kupenda
Journal Articles
In 1991, Clarence Thomas was confirmed as the first Black radical conservative Justice, in spite of opposition including credible allegations of sexual harassment lodged against him. His unprecedented confirmation evoked unprecedented reactions, including written ones. One such written action is the basis for this article. Our nation is now fast approaching the anniversary, not only of Thomas’ 25 ceremonial years on the Court, but also of almost 25 years since an unprecedented, published, pointed, open, publicly and widely circulated correspondence was sent to the newly confirmed Justice Thomas by another Black judge. Esteemed Federal Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., penned …
The Sky Is Falling (Again): Evaluating The Current Funding Crisis In The Judiciary, Donald E. Campbell
The Sky Is Falling (Again): Evaluating The Current Funding Crisis In The Judiciary, Donald E. Campbell
Journal Articles
This Article will consider the current crisis in a broad historical context. This larger narrative can provide a helpful perspective in the current debate. It offers a glimpse into how we came to the current system and allows us to question our assumptions regarding the way the system currently works. Historical context is an important (and under-discussed) aspect of this crisis. As the leaders of the bench and bar come together to evaluate changes to the current system, the discussion should begin with understanding how the system evolved to where it is now and with appreciating the fact that the …
Pardon Me - The Need For A Fair And Impartial Judiciary, Jim Rosenblatt
Pardon Me - The Need For A Fair And Impartial Judiciary, Jim Rosenblatt
Journal Articles
The pardons issued by former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour shortly before he left office created a swirl of controversy in Mississippi that played out in the national media. The Governor's Mansion, the Hinds County Courthouse, the State Capitol, and the Gartin Justice Building were frequent backdrops for media stories that took place over a two-month period reporting on "Pardongate." Several elements combined to make these pardons controversial and to make the issue such good fodder for the media.
To Advice And Consentdelay: The Role Of Interest Groups In The Confirmation Of Judges To The Federal Courts Of Appeal, Donald E. Campbell
To Advice And Consentdelay: The Role Of Interest Groups In The Confirmation Of Judges To The Federal Courts Of Appeal, Donald E. Campbell
Journal Articles
Political and partisan battles over nominees to the federal courts of appeal have reached unprecedented levels. This article considers the reasons for this change in the process. Using evidence from law and political science, this article proposes that current confirmation struggles are greatly influenced by increased involvement of interest groups in the process. The article tests the role of interest groups through an in-depth examination of George W Bush's nomination of Leslie H. Southwick to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Utilizing the Southwick case study, the article provides evidence of how interest groups impact the confirmation process by designating …
Should The Rooster Guard The Henhouse: A Critical Analysis Of The Judicial Conduct And Disability Act Of 1980, Donald E. Campbell
Should The Rooster Guard The Henhouse: A Critical Analysis Of The Judicial Conduct And Disability Act Of 1980, Donald E. Campbell
Journal Articles
The purpose of this Article is to critically examine the aspect of the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980 which seems to invite the most criticisms and raise the most questions of impropriety - namely, the initial receipt, review, and investigation of misconduct complaints. This article proposes that the current process of receiving, reviewing, and investigating judicial misconduct complaints should be amended. Specifically, the Act should incorporate into the current system an initial review and investigation by a magistrate judge. To this end, Part II sets out the procedures of how complaints are currently handled under the Act. Part …
Book Review, Deborah Challener
Book Review, Deborah Challener
Journal Articles
COURTIERS OF THE MARBLE PALACE is a compelling, informative book. As much as anything, it is a tremendous informational source for anyone interested in the Supreme Court. It is evident that the author has thoroughly researched the topic and provided the reader with a factual view of the past and present responsibilities of a Supreme Court law clerk. Because Peppers relies on principal-agent theory to develop his hypotheses and used exhaustive research to prove them, the book also appears to be objective.
Understanding The Person Beneath The Robe: Practical Methods For Neutralizing Harmful Judicial Biases, Evan R. Seamone
Understanding The Person Beneath The Robe: Practical Methods For Neutralizing Harmful Judicial Biases, Evan R. Seamone
Journal Articles
This article presents hands-on self-awareness techniques for use by judges, arbitrators, members of commissions, and other legal decision-makers who are confronted with complex cases. All too often, these judges are expected to make the “right” decisions without knowing how to accomplish this task. While judges, no doubt, are capable of applying the law to a case, this is only one aspect of righteous behavior. This article is concerned with the related expectation that judges are capable of rendering fair and impartial decisions. No matter how much training they receive, judges can only avoid biases that are known to them.
Reenchanting The Law: The Religious Dimension Of Judicial Decision Making, Mark C. Modak-Truran
Reenchanting The Law: The Religious Dimension Of Judicial Decision Making, Mark C. Modak-Truran
Journal Articles
Without a religious justification in the law, judges cannot fully justify their decisions in hard cases from within the law. The law must be indeterminate because the Establishment Clause proscribes this full justification. This does not mean that the Establishment Clause prohibits judges from fully justifying their decisions during their deliberations about hard cases. It only prohibits judges from including that full justification in their written opinions. Deliberation and explanation are separate stages of judicial decision making that should be kept distinct. Given this distinction, my thesis is that judges should fully justify their decisions in hard cases by relying …
Judicial Mindfulness, Evan R. Seamone
Judicial Mindfulness, Evan R. Seamone
Journal Articles
Like all human beings, judges are influenced by personal routines and behaviors that have become second nature to them or have somehow dropped below the radar of their conscious control. Professor Ellen Langer and others have labeled this general state "mindlessness." They have distinguished "mindful" thinking as a process that all people can employ to gain awareness of subconscious influences, and thus increase the validity of their decisions. In this Article, I establish a theory of "judicial mindfulness" that would guard against two types of "cold" bias when interpreting legal materials. The first harmful bias involves traumatic past events that …
A Pragmatic Justification Of The Judicial Hunch, Mark C. Modak-Truran
A Pragmatic Justification Of The Judicial Hunch, Mark C. Modak-Truran
Journal Articles
Judges currently face a daunting task. On the one hand, they are increasingly aware of the indeterminacy of the law, while on the other hand, they face an explosion of fact. Judges are floating on shaky legal timbers in a sea of documents, deposition transcripts, affidavits, oral courtroom testimony, and expert opinions. The explosion of fact alone presents monumental problems for deciding cases without unduly simplifying or reducing this factual complexity. For example, both federal and state judges are implementing case management systems to deal with their crushing case loads and the increasing complexity of their cases. In addition, there …
Corrective Justice And The Revival Of Judicial Virtue, Mark C. Modak-Truran
Corrective Justice And The Revival Of Judicial Virtue, Mark C. Modak-Truran
Journal Articles
Judges must be wise. Sound judicial reasoning requires moral virtue. These sentiments about judging have been lost. They apparently belong to a bygone era. While many advocate self-restraint or prudence as judicial virtues, moral virtue has been conspicuously absent from the list. Except for avoiding obvious vices such as bribery, favoritism, prejudice, sloth, and arbitrariness, conventional wisdom maintains that being a good judge does not require being a good person. Even theorists sympathetic to a relationship between law and morality balk at making moral virtue a prerequisite of judicial decision making. Rather, many contend that judicial decision making is a …
The Religious Dimension Of Judicial Decision Making And The Defacto Disestablishment, Mark C. Modak-Truran
The Religious Dimension Of Judicial Decision Making And The Defacto Disestablishment, Mark C. Modak-Truran
Journal Articles
Despite the de facto disestablishment of religion, I will try to illustrate the centrality of religion as a resource for understanding judicial decision making. The central question for this inquiry is: What, if any, is the role of religious beliefs in judicial decision making?