Law Commons^™

Local Federal Civil Procedure For The Twenty-First Century, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Federal civil procedure is now byzantine. Lawyers and parties face, and federal judges apply, a bewildering panorama of requirements. There are strictures in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as well as Title 28 of the United States Code and dozens of substantive statutes. A stunning array of local measures-including local rules; general, special, and scheduling orders; individual-judge practices; and mechanisms that courts adopted under the Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA) of 1990 to reduce cost and delay-also govern cases in all ninety-four districts. Many of the provisions· are inconsistent or duplicative, while a significant percentage are difficult to discover, …

A Preferable Approach For The Ninth Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

United States Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) recently introduced Senate Bill 2184, which would split the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit into two circuits. This measure differs from Senate Bill 253 that embodies the recommendations submitted to Congress by the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals after its one-year study. The Commission found "no persuasive evidence that the Ninth Circuit ... is not working effectively" and clearly rejected bifurcation. However, the Commission recommended that Congress impose a divisional restructuring on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and authorize the …

Anastasoff, Unpublished Opinions, And Federal Appellate Justice, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In Anastasoff v. United States, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently invalidated the court's local rule of appellate procedure providing that "unpublished opinions are not precedent and parties generally should not cite them." Eighth Circuit Judge Richard S. Arnold authored the opinion, holding that this local requirement violates Article ill of the United States Constitution. Regardless of whether the provocative decision in Anastasoff is constitutionally sound, the opinion trenchantly emphasizes the critical significance of a public policy issue that has remained essentially untreated for too long.

The three-judge panel, thus, threw …

Dear Chief Judge Schroeder, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Dear Judge Schroeder: Congratulations on becoming the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Procter Hug, Jr., transferred that office to you on December 1, 2000, during a quiet period in the tribunal's life, affording several months of relative calm m which to assume the daunting responsibility for Ninth Circuit operations. Your twenty-one-year service as an active court member will promote the felicitous discharge of your new duties as chief judge and will ease resolution of the difficulties that the tribunal will invariably encounter.

You have entered the pantheon of leaders whose century …

A Note On The Neutral Assignment Of Federal Appellate Judges, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Response to J. Robert Brown, Jr. & Allison Herren Lee, Neutral Assignment of Judges at the Court of Appeals, 78 Tex. L. Rev. 1037 (2000).

Dear President Bush, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias offers advice on judicial selection philosophy for the newly-elected President George W. Bush.

Federal Judicial Selection In The Fourth Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias assesses federal judicial selection for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for North Carolina. His Essay ascertains that four of fifteen active judgeships that Congress has authorized for the court have remained vacant over a considerable period and that a seat designated for North Carolina has been unfilled for seven years. He finds that these judicial vacancies may affect the appellate justice which the Fourth Circuit delivers and that North Carolina deserves.

The Expiration Of The Civil Justice Reform Act Of 1990, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Ever since the United States Congress passed the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA), a minor mystery of federal court jurisprudence has been whether - and if so, precisely when - that significant and controversial legislation expired. The measure instituted unprecedented nationwide experimentation with procedures that lawmakers intended to decrease cost and delay in civil litigation, but the statute's implementation additionally balkanized federal practice and procedure.