Judges Commons^™

Judicial Activism And The Interpretation Of The Voting Rights Act, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

Articles by Maurer Faculty

From the moment the U.S. Supreme Court first confronted the difficult constitutional questions at the heart of the Voting Rights Act, its posture has been one of deference. This posture has continued to this day. In contrast, the Court has interpreted the language of the Act dynamically, often in total disregard to the text of the law or the intent of Congress. But as this Article explains, the Roberts Court appears poised to unsettle this longstanding narrative. The Act is in serious constitutional danger. One way to explain this move on the part of the Court is by invoking the …

Navigating The New Politics Of Judicial Appointments, Ryan W. Scott, David R. Stras

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Review Essay explores the new politics of judicial appointments by addressing the important question whether Senate-specific reforms to the judicial appointments process are likely to succeed. In his recent book, The Next Justice, Chris Eisgruber proposes a two-part plan to repair the Supreme Court appointments process. Like many other scholars that have written in the area, Eisgruber's reforms focus primarily on the Senate. First, he proposes that the Senate get smart by asking penetrating questions about the judicial philosophy of Supreme Court nominees in an effort to ensure that the future Justices are moderates, rather than extremists. Second, he …

An Empirical Analysis Of Life Tenure: A Response To Professors Calabresi And Lindgren, Ryan W. Scott, David R. Stras

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Opposition to life tenure has been steadily mounting in the legal academy and Professors Steve Calabresi and Jim Lindgren are among those leading the charge. Crucial to their argument that life tenure is fundamentally flawed is an empirical claim that the increases in average tenure among Supreme Court Justices are both dramatic and unprecedented.

In this article, the authors respond to Calabresi and Lindgren by showing that their hypothesis of dramatic and unprecedented growth in average tenure has two fundamental flaws. First, it suffers from a period-selection problem. Rendering the data using longer or shorter periods blunts or eliminates the …

The Federal Income Tax Consequences Of The Bobble Supreme Phenomenon, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Since 2003, the Green Bag Journal has been commissioning and distributing limited edition bobblehead likenesses of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court. Demand for the bobble Supremes has not been limited to existing recipients, and bobble longing has inspired purchases and even poetry. Given the importance of the bobble Supreme phenomenon to the national economy, the time has come for guidance on the tax consequences of their receipt, ownership, and transfer. Fortunately, draft proposed regulations on the federal income tax treatment of bobble Supremes recently surfaced. Although the regulations have not and never will be officially sanctioned (and, …