Law Commons^™

Linking Law And Life: Justice Sotomayor’S Judicial Voice, Laura K. Ray

Laura K. Ray

Doctrinal Conversation: Justice Kagan's Supreme Court Opinions, Laura Ray

Laura K. Ray

In her first two terms on the Supreme Court, Justice Elena Kagan has crafted a distinctive judicial voice that speaks to her readers in a remarkably conversational tone. She employs a variety of rhetorical devices: invocations to “remember” or “pretend”; informal and even colloquial diction; a diverse assortment of similes and metaphors; and parenthetical interjections that guide the reader’s response. These strategies engage the reader in much the same way that Kagan as law professor may well have worked to engage her students, and in the context of judicial opinions they serve several purposes. They make Kagan’s opinions accessible to …

Opinion Writing And Opinion Readers, Meehan Rasch

Meehan Rasch

The authors - a federal appellate judge and his law clerks - bring unique perspectives to bear on the topic of opinion writing and opinion readers. The contents of this Article were inspired in large part by the work done by the authors in editing and preparing the second edition of Judge Aldisert's classic book Opinion Writing, which for many years was distributed to all federal trial and appellate judges, and to all state appellate judges, when they took the bench. A broader audience of professional opinion writers and students of the judicial process now has access to Opinion Writing, …

The Propriety Of Poetry In Judicial Opinions, Mary Kate Kearney

Mary Kate Kearney

No abstract provided.