Law Commons^™

Renegotiating The Social Contract, Jennifer S. Hendricks

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

This essay reviews Maxine Eichner's new book, "The Supportive State: Families, Government, and America's Political Ideals." It highlights Eichner's important theoretical contributions to both liberal political theory and feminist theory, applauding her success in reforming liberalism to account for dependency, vulnerability, and families. The essay then considers some implications of Eichner's proposals and their likely reception among feminists. It concludes that "The Supportive State" is a sound and inspiring response to recent calls that feminist theory move from being strictly a school of criticism to developing a theory of governance.

Against Civil Gideon (And For Pro Se Court Reform), Benjamin H. Barton

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that the pursuit of a civil Gideon (a civil guarantee of counsel to match Gideon v. Wainright’s guarantee of appointed criminal counsel) is an error logistically and jurisprudentially and advocates an alternate route for ameliorating the execrable state of pro se litigation for the poor in this country: pro se court reform.

Gideon itself has largely proven a disappointment. Between overworked and underfunded lawyers and a loose standard for ineffective assistance of counsel the system has been degraded. As each player becomes anesthetized to cutting corners a system designed as a square becomes a circle.

There is …