Law Commons^™

A Fourth Circuit Photograph, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals issued a report and proposals after carefully evaluating the appellate system for a year, while the data have minimally changed since the report's issuance. The Commission's principal focus was the Ninth Circuit, as Congress had instructed, yet the Commission assembled much useful information on each circuit court of appeals and found that all operate efficaciously. Because how the Fourth Circuit addresses a large docket is critical to appellate justice, the Commission's analysis of the tribunal and the court itself merit scrutiny, which this Article undertakes.

Part I of this …

Local Rules In The Wake Of Federal Rule Of Appellate Procedure 32.1, David R. Cleveland

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Clear As Mud: How The Uncertain Precedential Status Of Unpublished Opinions Muddles Qualified Immunity Determinations, David R. Cleveland

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Doctrinal Side Of Majority Will, Corinna Barrett Lain

Law Faculty Publications

What is the Supreme Court's relationship with public opinion? Barry Friedman's answer in The Will of the People scours some 200 years of history to provide a distinctly political view of the Court, and the story he tells is compelling. Yet it is also incomplete. The Will of the People presents a largely external account of the law; it sees the influence of majority will as a force that moves outside the jurisprudence we lawyers spend so much of our time researching, writing, and talking about. By this account, there is what the Justices say is driving their decisionmaking-legal …

Fourth Circuit Judicial Appointments, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Fourth Circuit judicial selection deserves an examination, which this Article undertakes. The first part investigates the background of the Fourth Circuit appointments process, emphasizing relevant developments throughout the Bush Administration. The second part descriptively and critically assesses nomination and confirmation in the Obama Administration. The third part derives lessons from the Fourth Circuit selection efforts by comparing them with Obama's national selection efforts and processes in other administrations. For example, all four Obama nominees are ethnic minorities or women and were sitting judges when nominated, and one is younger than fifty-five. Accordingly, their confirmation increases the appeals court's ethnic and …

Improving Federal Judicial Selection, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Review of Benjamin Wittes, Confirmation Wars: Preserving Independent Courts in Angry Times (2006).