Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 31 - 60 of 72

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Politicization Of Judicial Elections And Its Effect On Judicial Independence, Matthew W. Green Jr., Susan J. Becker Jan 2012

The Politicization Of Judicial Elections And Its Effect On Judicial Independence, Matthew W. Green Jr., Susan J. Becker

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article presents the proceedings of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Symposium, The Politicization of Judicial Elections and Its Effect on Judicial Independence and LGBT Rights, held October 21, 2011. The idea for the conference stemmed from the November 2010 Iowa judicial election, in which three justices were voted out of office as a result of joining a unanimous ruling, Varnum v. Brien, that struck down, on equal protection grounds, a state statute limiting marriage rights to heterosexual couples. The conference addresses whether the backlash that occurred in Iowa after the Varnum decision might undermine judicial independence in jurisdictions where …


The Politicization Of Judicial Elections And Its Effect On Judicial Independence, Matthew W. Green Jr., Susan J. Becker, Marsha K. Ternus, Camilla B. Taylor Jan 2012

The Politicization Of Judicial Elections And Its Effect On Judicial Independence, Matthew W. Green Jr., Susan J. Becker, Marsha K. Ternus, Camilla B. Taylor

Cleveland State Law Review

This article presents the proceedings of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Symposium, The Politicization of Judicial Elections and Its Effect on Judicial Independence and LGBT Rights, held October 21, 2011. The idea for the conference stemmed from the November 2010 Iowa judicial election, in which three justices were voted out of office as a result of joining a unanimous ruling, Varnum v. Brien, that struck down, on equal protection grounds, a state statute limiting marriage rights to heterosexual couples. The conference addresses whether the backlash that occurred in Iowa after the Varnum decision might undermine judicial independence in jurisdictions where …


Constitutional Cases And The Four Cardinal Virtues, R. George Wright Jan 2012

Constitutional Cases And The Four Cardinal Virtues, R. George Wright

Cleveland State Law Review

In addressing constitutional cases, judges face no shortage of legal rules, tests, principles, doctrines, and policies upon which to draw. In those cases, the challenge is assumed to be to identify and apply the most relevant such legal rules, tests, principles, doctrines, and policies. An accompanying judicial opinion tries to articulate this process, partly to legitimize the outcome, partly to provide guidance, and perhaps partly for purposes of civic education and inspiration. This Article recommends a somewhat different approach to constitutional adjudication. Specifically, this Article recommends supplementing the above standard forms of constitutional adjudication with appropriate and legitimate attention to …


From The Bench To The Screen: The Woman Judge In Film, Laura Krugman Ray Jan 2012

From The Bench To The Screen: The Woman Judge In Film, Laura Krugman Ray

Cleveland State Law Review

Although there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women judges over the past half century, their cinematic counterparts have failed to reflect that change. This Article explores the paradoxical relationship between social reality and its representation on screen to identify a lingering resistance to the idea of women exercising judicial power. The Article first examines the sparse history of women judges as central characters in films of the 1930s, finding the tension in those films between judicial authority and domestic happiness. It then turns to Hollywood’s romantic comedies of the 1940s, which resolved that tension through the …


The Closing Of The Judicial Mind, David F. Forte Jul 2009

The Closing Of The Judicial Mind, David F. Forte

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Reviews of R.F. Nagel, Unrestrained: Judicial Excess and the Mind of the American Lawyer, Transaction Publishers (2008) and R. Posner, How Judges Think, Harvard University Press (2008)


Fathers, Foreskins, And Family Law, Dena S. Davis Apr 2009

Fathers, Foreskins, And Family Law, Dena S. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In the United States, a custodial parent has the right and responsibility to make medical decisions for one's child. But does that right encompass consenting for a surgical procedure for which there is little or no medical justification? What if the noncustodial parent opposed the procedure? And when is a child old enough to make the decision for him- or herself? How should a physician respond when asked to perform a surgical procedure when the decision is enmeshed in family controversy? These and other questions are considered in Boldt, a recent family law case decided by the Supreme Court of …


Reframing The Independence V. Accountability Debate: Defining Judicial Structure In Light Of Judges' Courage And Integrity, David Pimentel Jan 2009

Reframing The Independence V. Accountability Debate: Defining Judicial Structure In Light Of Judges' Courage And Integrity, David Pimentel

Cleveland State Law Review

The perennial debate over striking the right balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability largely misses the mark. The tension between these concepts arises only in the structural sense of the terms, i.e. the conflict lies in the structural approaches traditionally taken to protect independence and to enforce accountability. In actuality, our primary concern should be the judge's own sense of independence and her internal sense of accountability. These more subjective concepts--which may be termed “judicial courage” (for the judge who is willing to act independently) and “judicial integrity” (for the judge who is willing to hold herself accountable)--do not …


Aligning Judicial Elections With Our Constitutional Values: The Separation Of Powers, Judicial Free Speech, And Due Process, Jason D. Grimes Jan 2009

Aligning Judicial Elections With Our Constitutional Values: The Separation Of Powers, Judicial Free Speech, And Due Process, Jason D. Grimes

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note consists of five Parts. Part II traces the historical development of state judicial elections from the perspective of the Framers' doctrine of separation of powers. It shows that judicial elections were borne more of historical contingency than constitutional design. Part II then assesses the recent history of elections to the Ohio Supreme Court. It determines that Ohio's judicial elections share two problems with many other states: millions of dollars given to judicial candidates by special interests likely to appear before the court, and candidates' broad freedom of speech to earn the political and financial support of these special …


The Realism Of Judges Past And Present, Brian Z. Tamanaha Jan 2009

The Realism Of Judges Past And Present, Brian Z. Tamanaha

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article has a single objective: to dispel the notion that judges are deceptive or deluded about judging. These unwarranted assumptions about judges distort theoretical and empirical debates about judging. Ordinarily the participants in any activity are presumed to possess valuable insights about the nature of that activity. Owing to the assumption that judges are deluded or dishonest, what they say on the subject of judging is often regarded with skepticism, discounted at the outset.


On Empathy In Judgment (Measure For Measure), Kenji Yoshino Jan 2009

On Empathy In Judgment (Measure For Measure), Kenji Yoshino

Cleveland State Law Review

This article is based on a Baker-Hostetler presentation given by the author at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. The author compares the nomination process of Supreme Court justices and the conflict between empathy and rule of law with William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.


Everything You Wanted To Know About Justice Scalia But Were Afraid To Ask, Or Don't Look Now But Justice Scalia's Originalism Approach Is Fatally Flawed, Arthur R. Landever Nov 2007

Everything You Wanted To Know About Justice Scalia But Were Afraid To Ask, Or Don't Look Now But Justice Scalia's Originalism Approach Is Fatally Flawed, Arthur R. Landever

Law Faculty Presentations and Testimony

I do not deny Justice Scalia's valiant efforts to vote based upon his originalist principles. But both a justice and an observer are well advised to understand the implications of the culture surrounding the Supreme Court. Originalism, in assuming present culture plays little part, and in seeking to operate in a closed universe, distorts the reality of judicial decision-making, and to that extent, risks unsound constitutional interpretations.


Moral Ambition: The Sermons Of Harry A. Blackmun, Dena S. Davis Jan 2006

Moral Ambition: The Sermons Of Harry A. Blackmun, Dena S. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Justice Harry A. Blackmun died on March 4, 1999 at the age of 90. The public funeral was held on March 9, at the huge and impressive Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, on Nebraska Avenue in Washington, D.C. Among the many speakers at this "Service of Death and Resurrection" was the Rev. Dr. William A. Holmes, senior pastor at the Church, speaking on "The Churchmanship of Harry Blackmun." Dr. Holmes talked movingly of a man who was intimately involved in the affairs of his church. Among the Justice's many contributions, Holmes noted a sermon that Blackmun had once preached on …


Had Enough In Ohio - Time To Reform Ohio's Judicial Selection Process, Bradley Link Jan 2004

Had Enough In Ohio - Time To Reform Ohio's Judicial Selection Process, Bradley Link

Cleveland State Law Review

This note will examine the problems that the election of state judges creates, as well as the inadequacies of the current model of merit selection. I propose that Ohio should adopt an appointive method of selecting judges, which will utilize a judicial eligibility commission as outlined by the American Bar Association similar to the nominating commissions commonly found in merit selection plans but which will do away with the commonly found retention election. Ohio needs to change the manner in which state judges are selected in order to bring confidence in the state judiciary, and to ensure that the most …


Disarming The Confirmation Process, Michael M. Gallagher Jan 2003

Disarming The Confirmation Process, Michael M. Gallagher

Cleveland State Law Review

To improve the current process and eliminate the bitter nature of confirmation hearings, Senators should not consider a nominee's ideology in determining whether to vote for that nominee. Ideological scrutiny lacks historical and constitutional support; it has led to repeated, prolonged battles that threaten to draw the confirmation process into a dangerous stalemate. Removing ideology from judicial nominations would return the confirmation process to its original understanding, one in which the President enjoys the dominant role. Those who argue that allowing the President, not the Senate, to consider a nominee's ideology would harm the federal judiciary and ignore the nature …


Who Was William Marbury?, David F. Forte Jan 2003

Who Was William Marbury?, David F. Forte

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Of all the disappointed office seekers in American history, only William Marbury has been so honored as to have his portrait hung in the chambers of the United States Supreme Court alongside that of James Madison. The two titular protagonists to the Marbury v. Madison dispute had no idea that their original contretemps would ever find its way to litigation, let alone eventual mythic significance as the foundation stone of judicial review.


The Justice Who Wouldn't Be Lutheran: Toward Borrowing The Wisdom Of Faith Traditions, Marie A. Failinger Jan 1998

The Justice Who Wouldn't Be Lutheran: Toward Borrowing The Wisdom Of Faith Traditions, Marie A. Failinger

Cleveland State Law Review

Only a few legal scholars have attempted to work out what jurisprudence might look like if lawmakers and judges took their religious world-views seriously-and explicitly-in their work, in a way respectful of "the fact of pluralism." My task is to imagine the concrete case: what a judge's jurisprudence might look like if a judge considered the wisdom of his own religious tradition in constitutional cases. This article explores broad jurisprudential themes and specific First Amendment and social welfare opinions of Justice William Rehnquist, who for some years has been a member of a Lutheran congregation, my own denomination. While Justice …


Right To Talk: Has Justice Antonin Scalia Compromised His Objectivity With A Public Remark?, Lloyd B. Snyder Jan 1997

Right To Talk: Has Justice Antonin Scalia Compromised His Objectivity With A Public Remark?, Lloyd B. Snyder

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

With two assisted suicide cases scheduled for argument before the Supreme Court this term, Justice Antonin Scalia already has publicly staked out his position on the issue. While sentiments he expressed in 1990 in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, 497 U.S. 261, are well-known, Scalia told an audience at Catholic University late last year that it is "absolutely plain there is no [constitutional] right to die." Is it proper for sitting judges to make such statements? While no one would deny Scalia his First Amendment right to say what he pleases, that hardly quells concerns about the advisability …


Challenges In Judging: Some Insights From The Writings Of Moses, Gordon J. Beggs Jan 1996

Challenges In Judging: Some Insights From The Writings Of Moses, Gordon J. Beggs

Cleveland State Law Review

Starting with the idea that Judeo-Christian principles played a significant role in the development of American legal ethics, the author uses the writings of Moses as a lens to examine some challenges in judging. Moses authored the first five books of the Old Testament known as the Pentateuch or books of the law-Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The author begins by suggesting a caveat and an approach to interpretation. When examining the writings of Moses, we are not necessarily seeking a literal application. He suggests instead, that when looking at the writings of Moses, three questions should be answered: …


Challenges In Judging: Some Insights From The Writings Of Moses, Gordon J. Beggs Jan 1996

Challenges In Judging: Some Insights From The Writings Of Moses, Gordon J. Beggs

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

I would like to use the writings of Moses as a lens to examine some challenges in judging. Moses authored the first five books of the Old Testament known as the Pentateuch or books of the law--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. He is probably best known for leading the Hebrew people out of bondage in Egypt and for receiving the Ten Commandments. As our discussion today will reveal, he may also be credited with authoring some significant principles with respect to the judicial function.


John Marshall And The Moral Basis For Judicial Review, David F. Forte Jun 1994

John Marshall And The Moral Basis For Judicial Review, David F. Forte

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

During the last two decades, many observers have been disappointed in some of the appointments to the federal bench and in the judicial philosophies some judges have brought with them. But if we turn to the source of our constitutional order, we would find in the example of John Marshall the moral basis for the judicial craft.


Lunch With Frank Battisti, David F. Forte Jan 1994

Lunch With Frank Battisti, David F. Forte

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Memorial tribute to Judge Frank Battisti


Judicial Bias, Donald C. Nugent Jan 1994

Judicial Bias, Donald C. Nugent

Cleveland State Law Review

This article examines how bias and prejudice may impact the decision making process of our judiciary. It begins in Part II from the premise that all judges, as a part of basic human functioning, bring to each decision a package of personal biases and beliefs that may unconsciously and unintentionally affect the decision making process. To the extent that we, as judges, recognize the potential for bias to enter into our deliberations, we combat the potential harm and unfairness that bias can produce if unchecked. Moreover, attorneys and other participants in the justice system should also be conscious of the …


Judicial Bias, Donald C. Nugent Jan 1994

Judicial Bias, Donald C. Nugent

Cleveland State Law Review

This article examines how bias and prejudice may impact the decision making process of our judiciary. It begins in Part II from the premise that all judges, as a part of basic human functioning, bring to each decision a package of personal biases and beliefs that may unconsciously and unintentionally affect the decision making process. To the extent that we, as judges, recognize the potential for bias to enter into our deliberations, we combat the potential harm and unfairness that bias can produce if unchecked. Moreover, attorneys and other participants in the justice system should also be conscious of the …


Adverse Publicity As A Means Of Reducing Judicial Decision-Making Delay: Periodic Disclosure Of Pending Motions, Bench Trials And Cases Under The Civil Justice Reform Act, Charles Gardner Geyh Jan 1993

Adverse Publicity As A Means Of Reducing Judicial Decision-Making Delay: Periodic Disclosure Of Pending Motions, Bench Trials And Cases Under The Civil Justice Reform Act, Charles Gardner Geyh

Cleveland State Law Review

The modest objective of this article is to analyze §476 in light of the purpose it was designed to serve, and to evaluate the performance of that section during the two years that it has been in operation. To do that, it is useful to begin by placing §476 in the larger context of ongoing efforts to address and remedy indefensible decision-making delays. Section II will, therefore, summarize the causes of decision-making delay, dividing them among the defensible and the indefensible, and then review existing mechanisms for alleviating indefensible delay. The point worth underscoring is that while defensible delays-particularly delays …


The Judge As Political Candidate, Hans A. Linde Jan 1992

The Judge As Political Candidate, Hans A. Linde

Cleveland State Law Review

Judges are expected to satisfy two conflicting ideals. First, they are to follow the law without fear or favor, regardless of personal sympathies and preferences, to "adjudicate" rather than to "legislate." Second, they are to reach results that are preferred by or at least acceptable to their communities. The first ideal requires judicial independence and job security. Elective judgeships are sometimes defended as serving the second. We have gone through a third public examination of a Supreme Court nominee in which the Senate and the public considered it important to question the nominee about his views of the major issues …


Due Process, Judicial Review, And The Rights Of The Individual, Edward D. Re Jan 1991

Due Process, Judicial Review, And The Rights Of The Individual, Edward D. Re

Cleveland State Law Review

As a federal judge I fully appreciate the role of the judiciary in reviewing the actions of administrative agencies. Hence, I am pleased to discuss the concepts of due process, judicial review, and the rights of the individual. Since it cannot be questioned that public officers and administrative agencies vitally affect the lives and interests of all persons, it is important to know the legal controls and remedies that are available to assure that public officials act lawfully. This, of course, implies that all administrators and officers of government must act within the bounds of their delegated authority and comply …


A Government By Judges: An Historical Re-View, Michael Henry Davis Jan 1987

A Government By Judges: An Historical Re-View, Michael Henry Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In 1921, Edouard Lambert, a professor of law at Lyon specializing in comparative studies and founder of an Institute of Comparative Law there, published a book, Le Gouvernement des judges et la lutte contra la legislation sociale aux Etats-Unis, thus singlehandedly creating the phrase, a "government of judges", to denote a truly unconstrained system of judicial review which could not be limited even by constitutional amendment. The phrase quickly entered the parlance of French public law and even that of popular culture, deriving much of its force, no doubt, from the historical French aversion to a strong judiciary, eventually becoming …


Constraints Of Power: The Constitutional Opinions Of Judges Scalia, Bork, Posner, Easterbrook, And Winter, James G. Wilson Jan 1986

Constraints Of Power: The Constitutional Opinions Of Judges Scalia, Bork, Posner, Easterbrook, And Winter, James G. Wilson

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article completes a two-part series studying the constitutional jurisprudence of Judges Antonin Scalia, Richard Posner, Robert Bork, Frank Easterbrook, and Ralph Winter Jr., five conservative academics appointed by President Reagan to the United States Court of Appeals. Judge Scalia has recently been appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. In a previous article, published in the last issue of the University of Miami Law Review, I evaluated these five jurists' constitutional scholarship by contrasting their views with those of Edmund Burke, the originator of political conservative theory. That article tested Burke's wariness of political abstractions and his …


The Law/Politics Distinction, The French Conseil Constitutionnel, And The U.S. Supreme Court, Michael H. Davis Jan 1986

The Law/Politics Distinction, The French Conseil Constitutionnel, And The U.S. Supreme Court, Michael H. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

A dispute burns across the landscape of French constitutional law regarding the juridical nature of the French constitutional "Supreme Court", the Conseil constitutionnel: is it a court? Both French and American scholars have claimed that, despite superficial similarities between the U.S. Supreme Court and the French Conseil constitutionnel, the American system of judicial review "can have no counterpart in the French system", that French legal and political theory is inconstistent with an effective supreme court, that there is "no possibility" that the French and American systems could surmount this "major difference", and that the Conseil is simply not a "true …


Gates, Leon, And The Compromise Of Adjudicative Fairness (Part Ii): Of Aggressive Majoritarianism, Willful Deafness, And The New Exception To The Exclusionary Rule, Joel Jay Finer Jan 1985

Gates, Leon, And The Compromise Of Adjudicative Fairness (Part Ii): Of Aggressive Majoritarianism, Willful Deafness, And The New Exception To The Exclusionary Rule, Joel Jay Finer

Cleveland State Law Review

Part I examined in a dialogue form the idea that Justice White and other members of the Leon majority had prejudged issues of law in earlier cases––pre-committed themselves in violation of their duty of impartiality––by elaborating in detailed, cohesive, comprehensive opinions, reasons why existing law was incorrect and had to be changed to permit a "good-faith, objective police reasonableness" exception to the exclusionary rule. These prejudgments precluded fair consideration of the merits in Leon. Beyond that, the Leon opinion itself, considered in view of the arguments of counsel and the scholarship in currency, evinced an agenda-driven pre-commitment to its outcome; …