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Full-Text Articles in Law
Rethinking Judicial Nominating Commissions: Independence, Accountability, And Public Support , Joseph A. Colquitt
Rethinking Judicial Nominating Commissions: Independence, Accountability, And Public Support , Joseph A. Colquitt
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The Article focuses on one of the pillars of the judicial appointive process, the judicial nominating commission, suggesting that all jurisdictions should have judicial nominating commissions. A judicial nominating commission exists to screen and select nominees for judgeships. This article envisions and describe a system that more likely will result in selecting the right person for the bench.
Beyond Quality: First Principles In Judicial Selection And Their Application To A Commission-Based Selection System, Jeffrey D. Jackson
Beyond Quality: First Principles In Judicial Selection And Their Application To A Commission-Based Selection System, Jeffrey D. Jackson
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article discusses the principles that the judicial system should advance in the selection of its judges. In addition to judicial quality, there are five other “first principles” that should be advanced in an optimal selection system: independence, accountability, representativeness, legitimacy, and transparency.
Judicial Performance Review: A Balance Between Judicial Independence And Public Accountability, Jean E. Dubofsky
Judicial Performance Review: A Balance Between Judicial Independence And Public Accountability, Jean E. Dubofsky
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article discusses judicial appointment and judicial independence in Colorado. The article argues that in Colorado, the independence of the judiciary needs to be protected, perhaps more than at any other time in the state’s history. While public accountability is important, it is achieved through the executive and legislative branches of the government. The courts function best if judges are free to decide each case without regard to how the general public might put a thumb on the scales of justice. To the degree that judicial performance commissions can protect judicial independence, while providing voters in retention elections with sufficient …
Rethinking Judicial Selection: A Critical Appraisal Of Appointive Selection For State Court Judges, John D. Feerick
Rethinking Judicial Selection: A Critical Appraisal Of Appointive Selection For State Court Judges, John D. Feerick
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Transcript of the keynote address delivered at Fordham University School of law on April 7, 2006. The speaker discusses the various shortcomings in the judicial selection methodology in New York State and what he and others have thought of as solutions for the problems.
A View From The Ground: A Reform Group’S Perspective On The Ongoing Effort To Achieve Merit Selection Of Judges, Shira J. Goodman, Lynn A. Marks
A View From The Ground: A Reform Group’S Perspective On The Ongoing Effort To Achieve Merit Selection Of Judges, Shira J. Goodman, Lynn A. Marks
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article describes the history of judicial selection in the state of Pennsylvania. It describes the judicial selection reform movement and the growth of the organization Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts ("PMC") which devises solutions to meet the various challenges to judicial integrity in Pennsylvania. It focuses on the merit system that PMC has been trying to achieve for Pennsylvania's appellate courts.
Help Wanted: Is There A Better Way To Select Judges?, Luke Bierman
Help Wanted: Is There A Better Way To Select Judges?, Luke Bierman
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article gives an anecdotal account of the authors attempt to apply for a position as a State Court Judge that he saw posted in the newspaper. The article uses the job posting concept as a starting point to argue that the system of judicial appointment in New York needs to be reworked and there needs to be new and creative solutions brought into the discussion.
Enriching Judicial Independence: Seeking To Improve The Retention Vote Phase Of An Appointive Selection System, John F. Irwin, Daniel L. Real
Enriching Judicial Independence: Seeking To Improve The Retention Vote Phase Of An Appointive Selection System, John F. Irwin, Daniel L. Real
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article discusses the problems and potential solutions with the system of judicial appointment in the state of Nebraska. The article focuses on how improving public awareness about the existing system, its goals, and its current weaknesses, and implementing steps to address those weaknesses, will help to keep everyone moving toward the best possible system. While changing attitudes and interest in judicial retention elections is certainly not an easy task, it is only through seeking such change that reformers of an elective retention system can hope to near its potential effectiveness.
Wyoming’S Judicial Selection Process: Is It Getting The Job Done?, Marilyn S. Kite
Wyoming’S Judicial Selection Process: Is It Getting The Job Done?, Marilyn S. Kite
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article explains Wyoming’s commission based judicial selection process, studies how it has performed over the years, and looks to see what lessons we can learn from that history, and consider how it can be improved. Throughout this Article, the focus will be on what attributes of a judicial selection system best result in an independent, accountable, and vibrant judiciary.
A Comparison Of The Criminal Appellate Decisions Of Appointed State Supreme Courts: Insights, Questions, And Implications For Judicial Independence, Aman L. Mcleod
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article presents the results of a study conducted to see whether state supreme courts selected in states with dissimilar appointment systems differ in the way they decide criminal appeals. Comparing the criminal decisions of courts selected with different appointment systems may also suggest something about how different appointment systems impact judicial independence.
Designing An Appointive System: The Key Issues, G. Alan Tarr
Designing An Appointive System: The Key Issues, G. Alan Tarr
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article contains a selection of advice on how to improve the judicial selection system. The article explains that reconsideration of the judicial appointive systems must include both the broadly theoretical and the intensely practical. It should identify the key questions that must be addressed in creating a system of judicial appointment, elaborate and defend the principles that should guide choices among alternative appointive systems, and clarify how those principles can be translated into institutional arrangements that will advance the goal of a quality judiciary. This reconsideration should also take seriously the arguments and claims of those who oppose the …
Enhancing Diversity In An Appointive System Of Selecting Judges, Leo M. Romero
Enhancing Diversity In An Appointive System Of Selecting Judges, Leo M. Romero
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article examines the different measures that states, with a particular focus on New Mexico, have adopted in order to enhance diversity in their appointive systems and proposes ways to structure an appointive system that gives due consideration to concerns about diversity. This Article concludes that an appointive system should be designed to require consideration of diversity in the composition of nominating commissions and in the evaluation of applicants.
Appointing Judges The European Way, Mary L. Volcansek
Appointing Judges The European Way, Mary L. Volcansek
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article looks at methods of judicial selection in Europe as a way to contrast and perhaps better understand and improve the systems of judicial selection used in the United States. The article argues that in Europe, judicial independence is prized above and beyond any other possible positive trait. The democratic legitimacy of European judges derives from the intimate connection between democracy and the rule of law. Legitimacy does not attach, in the public eye, to a single political institution, but rather to the system as a whole.
Careful What You Wish For: Tough Questions, Honest Answers, And Innovative Approaches To Appointive Judicial Selection, Steven Zeidman
Careful What You Wish For: Tough Questions, Honest Answers, And Innovative Approaches To Appointive Judicial Selection, Steven Zeidman
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Essay, informed in significant part by personal experience, examines in greater detail some of the common features of appointive systems, and in the process raises issues, concerns, and questions. Every step of the way the goal remains the same—to devise an appointive system most likely to yield as outstanding a judiciary as possible.
A Cancer On The Republic: The Assault Upon Impartiality Of State Courts And The Challenge To Judicial Selection, Donald L. Burnett
A Cancer On The Republic: The Assault Upon Impartiality Of State Courts And The Challenge To Judicial Selection, Donald L. Burnett
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article examines judicial impartiality in the context of the state courts. Section I endeavors to show how impartial state courts are essential to fulfilling the constitutional guarantees of a republican form of government and of due process and equal protection of the law. Section II describes the current assault upon the impartiality of state courts, and Section III suggests several ways in which this cancer on the republic can be slowed or reversed—by specific actions within, or related to, the judicial selection process.
On The Validity And Vitality Of Arizona’S Judicial Merit Selection System: Past, Present, And Future, Mark I. Harrison, Sara S. Greene, Keith Swisher, Meghan H. Grabel
On The Validity And Vitality Of Arizona’S Judicial Merit Selection System: Past, Present, And Future, Mark I. Harrison, Sara S. Greene, Keith Swisher, Meghan H. Grabel
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article demonstrates that merit selection is functioning commendably in Arizona and, for the most part, provides the public with a judicial selection process far more informative and generally superior to “traditional elections.” Part I of this Article sketches the history of Arizona’s merit selection of judges and its previous state-wide judicial election system. Part II discusses and analyzes attacks on merit selection and, in addition, assesses the effect of the Judicial Performance Review program initiated in 1992 to enhance the efficacy of the merit selection system. Finally, Part III describes the current status of merit selection in Arizona and …