Law Commons^™

Limitations (A Response To Judge Posner), Chad M. Oldfather

Duquesne Law Review

Among the advice that Judge Posner offers to his fellow judges is the suggestion that they remain mindful of their limitations:

"I suggest that when trying to make up his mind about which way to vote, the judge remind himself of his limitations (limitations that all judges have)-the limitations of his knowledge of the law, the limitations of his knowledge of the case at hand, the limitations of his knowledge of the real-world context of the case, and the limitations (or distortions) of his thinking that result from the biases that all judges bring to judging. Not that it is …

Foreword, John E. Murray Jr.

Duquesne Law Review

The John and Liz Murray Awards for Legal Scholarship are designed to recognize intellectual engagements with legal theory that enhance legal doctrine and practice to meet the continuous changes in society. There are three awards including an award recognizing unique and invaluable scholarly contributions of an individual legal scholar. The choice of the first recipient of this award required preciously little deliberation. Judge Richard A. Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit was the obvious choice.

Judicial Opinions And Appellate Advocacy In Federal Courts - One Judge's Views, Richard A. Posner

Duquesne Law Review

I have been a federal court of appeals judge for thirty years, and naturally over this long span of time I have formed judgments about how federal court of appeals judges should go about deciding cases, what their judicial opinions should be like (which raises the issue of how judges should use staff, consisting mainly of law clerks), and how lawyers should brief and argue cases in these courts. My purpose in this article is to distill my beliefs concerning opinions and advocacy into practical advice for federal court of appeals judges, their law clerks, and the lawyers who practice …

In Good Conscience: Expressions Of Judicial Conscience In Federal Appellate Opinions, Sarah M.R. Cravens

Duquesne Law Review

Justice Holmes, an icon of both the theory and the practice of the appellate judicial role, once famously said that the job of the judge is not to "do justice" but simply to apply the law. Along similar lines, law professors are forever reminding our students that when referring to judicial opinions, they ought to say that courts "hold" or "state" or "reason," but not that they "feel" or "believe." But, of course, judges are human, so we know that they do feel and believe things. They have convictions and commitments that are important to them, both personally and in …

Judicial Perspective And Mentorship At The Supreme Court: A Review Essay On In Chambers: Stories Of Supreme Court Law Clerks And Their Justices, Edited By Todd C. Peppers And Artemus Ward, Harvey Gee

Duquesne Law Review

In their recently released book, In Chambers: Stories of Supreme Court Law Clerks and Their Justices ("In Chambers"), editors Todd Peppers and Artemus Ward offer a collection of previously published articles and new unpublished essays on select justices and their clerks to illuminate how the personal relationships between justices and clerks impact the Court. Contributors include distinguished law professors, judges, academics, and legal correspondents. Peppers and Ward are certainly qualified to talk about the Supreme Court clerkship institution. Six years ago, Peppers released Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court Law Clerk …

Another Judge's Views On Writing Judicial Opinions, Beverly B. Martin

Duquesne Law Review

The privilege of being a federal circuit judge allows, and indeed obliges, a judge to bring scrutiny and truth to the disputes she considers. Certainly, a judge's determination of what is truth is most clearly and effectively communicated by the judge's own telling of how she arrived at that truth. So Judge Posner's advocacy for judges writing their own opinions makes good sense. Indeed, it is hard to imagine any judge taking the other side of that argument. I certainly will not do that here. But if I am obliged to tell the truth, I must confess that I do …