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Inferiority Complex: Should State Courts Follow Lower Federal Court Precedent On The Meaning Of Federal Law?, Amanda Frost
Inferiority Complex: Should State Courts Follow Lower Federal Court Precedent On The Meaning Of Federal Law?, Amanda Frost
Vanderbilt Law Review
The conventional wisdom is that state courts need not follow lower federal court precedent when interpreting federal law. Upon closer inspection, however, the question of how state courts should treat lower federal court precedent is not so clear. Although most state courts now take the conventional approach, a few contend that they are obligated to follow the lower federal courts, and two federal courts of appeals have declared that their decisions are binding on state courts. The Constitution's text and structure send mixed messages about the relationship between state and lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court has never squarely …
The Federal Court System: A Principal-Agent Perspective, Tracey E. George, Albert H. Yoon
The Federal Court System: A Principal-Agent Perspective, Tracey E. George, Albert H. Yoon
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Professor Merrill ably demonstrates that Supreme Court decisions should be examined as the product of an inherently political institution. Observers who assert that Justices are best understood as prophets of the law are practicing an intellectual sleight of hand that allows them to ignore the non doctrinal factors that affect judicial behavior. Such an effort is understandable. The Court is a much more complicated subject if its rulings reflect nonlegal factors as well as legal ones. The desire, however, to ignore the true character of the Court produces accounts of its behavior that are inadequate, incorrect, or wholly without content. …
Abstention: The Supreme Court And Allocation Of Judicial Power, Randall P. Bezanson
Abstention: The Supreme Court And Allocation Of Judicial Power, Randall P. Bezanson
Vanderbilt Law Review
In an era of continually expanding federal judicial power, the Supreme Court has fashioned and employed several devices designed to delegate certain classes of federal question litigation to the state court systems. Among these devices are the doctrines of abstention, comity, and exhaustion of state remedies. Implementation of these doctrines has enabled the Supreme Court to maintain state judicial presence in federal question litigation and retain at least the appearance of a manageable federalized judicial structure. This article will attempt to analyze the function of the abstention doctrines as judicially-created tempering devices. Following a brief discussion of the factors that …
Book Reviews, Noel T. Dowling (Reviewer), Hugo L. Black, Jr. (Reviewer), George H. Cate, Sr. (Reviewer), Henry N. Williams (Reviewer)
Book Reviews, Noel T. Dowling (Reviewer), Hugo L. Black, Jr. (Reviewer), George H. Cate, Sr. (Reviewer), Henry N. Williams (Reviewer)
Vanderbilt Law Review
On Understanding the Supreme Court
By Paul A. Freund
Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1949. Pp. 130. $3.00
reviewer: Noel T. Dowling
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Courts on Trial
By Jerome N. Frank
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949. Pp. vii, 441. $5.00
reviewer: Hugo L. Black, Jr.
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Hugo L. Black: A Study in the Judicial Process
By Charlotte Williams
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1950. Pp. vii, 208. $3.50.
reviewer: George H. Cate, Sr.
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Hatch Act Decisions (Political Activity Cases) of the United States Civil Service Commission
By James W. Irwin
Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1949. Pp. 304. $1.50 …