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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Way Pavers: Eleven Supreme Court-Worthy Women, Meg Penrose Jul 2018

The Way Pavers: Eleven Supreme Court-Worthy Women, Meg Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

Four women have served as Associate Justices on the United States Supreme Court. Since the Court’s inception in 1789, 162 individuals have been nominated to serve as Supreme Court Justices. Five nominees, or roughly 3 percent, have been women. To help put this gender dearth in perspective, more men named “Samuel” have served as Supreme Court Justices than women. Thirteen U.S. Presidents have nominated more people to the Supreme Court than the total number of women that have served on the Court. Finally, there are currently more Catholics serving on the Supreme Court than the number of women appointed in …


“Government By Injunction,” Legal Elites, And The Making Of The Modern Federal Courts, Kristin Collins Nov 2016

“Government By Injunction,” Legal Elites, And The Making Of The Modern Federal Courts, Kristin Collins

Faculty Scholarship

The tendency of legal discourse to obscure the processes by which social and political forces shape the law’s development is well known, but the field of federal courts in American constitutional law may provide a particularly clear example of this phenomenon. According to conventional accounts, Congress’s authority to regulate the lower federal courts’ “jurisdiction”—generally understood to include their power to issue injunctions— has been a durable feature of American constitutional law since the founding. By contrast, the story I tell in this essay is one of change. During the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, many jurists considered the federal …


High Court Pretense, Lower Court Candor: Judicial Impartiality After Capterton V. Massey Coal Co., Lynne H. Rambo Jan 2015

High Court Pretense, Lower Court Candor: Judicial Impartiality After Capterton V. Massey Coal Co., Lynne H. Rambo

Faculty Scholarship

Apolitical, impartial judging has always been our judicial ideal. In the last twenty years, however, special interest groups have sought power over (and through) judges by pouring millions into judicial elections, and the Court has recognized their first amendment right to do so. In the midst of this politicization of judicial elections, the Court five years ago reinforced the impartiality ideal, holding very broadly in Caperton v. Massey Coal Co. that it violates due process for a judge to sit whenever there is a “probability of bias,” i.e., whenever the average judge is unlikely to be neutral. Caperton involved a …


Do Female “Firsts” Still Matter?: Why They Do For Women Of Color, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Amber Shanahan-Fricke Jan 2012

Do Female “Firsts” Still Matter?: Why They Do For Women Of Color, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Amber Shanahan-Fricke

Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that diversifying the federal judiciary with more women and men of color, but particularly with more women of color, is essential to moving forward and strengthening this country’s democracy. Specifically, this Article responds to arguments by prominent feminists that having female “firsts” on the bench is not as critical as having the “right” women on the bench—“right” meaning those women who are invested in and supportive of what are traditionally viewed as women’s issues. In so responding, this Article acknowledges the appeal of such arguments regarding judicial service from the “right” women, but contends that, while achieving …


An Independent Judiciary: The Life And Writings Of Robert N.C. Nix, Jr., Phoebe A. Haddon Jan 2005

An Independent Judiciary: The Life And Writings Of Robert N.C. Nix, Jr., Phoebe A. Haddon

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Elitism, Expediency, And The New Certiorari: Requiem For The Learned Hand Tradition, William M. Richman, William L. Reynolds Jan 1996

Elitism, Expediency, And The New Certiorari: Requiem For The Learned Hand Tradition, William M. Richman, William L. Reynolds

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Women Judges And Better Justice For All, John D. Feerick Jan 1993

Women Judges And Better Justice For All, John D. Feerick

Faculty Scholarship

According to the most recent report of The New York Judicial Committee on Women in the Courts, published in October 1992, out of a total of 1,129 judges, only 183 are female. It is clear women are under-represented in the judiciary. Decisive action is required in order to increase opportunities for women to become judges. In January 1992, Governor Cuomo's Task Force on Judicial Diversity ("the Task Force") issued its report. The Task Force strongly supported diversity and set forth compelling reasons why a diverse bench is in the public interest. The report reminded us that "diversity is vital because …