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Full-Text Articles in Law
Lifting The Veil: Justice Blackmun's Papers And The Public Perception Of The Supreme Court, Tony Mauro
Lifting The Veil: Justice Blackmun's Papers And The Public Perception Of The Supreme Court, Tony Mauro
Missouri Law Review
The starting point of any discussion of the public perception of the United States Supreme Court is the liklihood that no public perception exists. By and large, the Supreme Court operates at the very outer edges of public awareness; for years, polls have indicated that many more Americans know the names of the three Stooges than any three Supreme Court justices.
Justice Harry Blackmun And The Phenomenon Of Judicial Preference Change, Theodore W. Ruger
Justice Harry Blackmun And The Phenomenon Of Judicial Preference Change, Theodore W. Ruger
Missouri Law Review
We are fond of putting our judges into neat adjectival boxes, particularly when they sit on the Supreme Court. These typologies often reflect perceived attitudinal or ideological preferences; some Justices are called "liberal" or "conservative" or "moderate," or occasionally some hyphenated combination thereof. Or the labels might seek to capture variations in jurisprudential philosophy or method, such as "formalist," "pragmatist," "originalist," "textualist," or "minimalist." No Justice is immune from this classification game, and the subject of this symposium is an apt example. From the moment of his nomination by President Nixon in 1970, Harry A. Blackmun attracted a bevy of …
Perspectives On Decisionmaking From The Blackmun Papers: The Cases On Arbitrability Of Statutory Claims, Ellen E. Deason
Perspectives On Decisionmaking From The Blackmun Papers: The Cases On Arbitrability Of Statutory Claims, Ellen E. Deason
Missouri Law Review
Judges' decisions must rank among the most documented types of decisionmaking. At the appellate level, in particular, the arguments made to judges are a matter of record and the decisions are recorded in written opinions that provide a reasoned explanation. Yet there are many unknowns about this decisionmaking process. This article draws on information found in the Blackmun Papers collection at the Library of Congress to explore Supreme Court decisionmaking as illustrated in the series of cases that opened the door to welcome arbitration of statutory claims. I The cases brought about the weakening and eventual abrogation of a long-standing …
Politics And Judgment, Suzanna Sherry
Politics And Judgment, Suzanna Sherry
Missouri Law Review
Two hundred years after its most famous invocation in Marbury v. Madison, judicial review has apparently lost its luster. Despite its global spread, it is in disrepute in its country of origin. The mainstream American academic attitude toward judicial review as practiced by the modem Supreme Court ranges from open hostility to a position similar to Winston Churchill's on democracy: It is the worst way to implement a Constitution, except for all the rest. In this essay, I want to explain the source of the hostility, defend judicial review against its critics, and make a few suggestions for improvement.
Burger-Blackmun Relationship: Lessons For Collegiality From The Blackmun Papers, The, Duane Benton, Barrett J. Vahle
Burger-Blackmun Relationship: Lessons For Collegiality From The Blackmun Papers, The, Duane Benton, Barrett J. Vahle
Missouri Law Review
The [Blackmun] Papers have extensive correspondence, diaries, and other documents illuminating the relationship between Blackmun and Burger. The general thesis presented by Woodward & Amrstrong, Lewis, Greenhouse, Totenberg, and Munford is accurate. This article examines the Papers in detail, against the backdrop of the literature on collegiality. We find a very complex relationship: in the 1950s and 1960s, Burger provided a vital Washington connection for, and political clout to, Blackmun. During those two decades, Blackmun was a key link back to Minnesota, and a solic supporter for Burger. When the two became colleagues on the Supreme Court in 1970, their …
Justice Blackmun And The Spirit Of Liberty, Richard C. Reuben
Justice Blackmun And The Spirit Of Liberty, Richard C. Reuben
Missouri Law Review
As we see in this symposium, Justice Harry Blackmun is as controversial in death as he was in life. His strongest critics, such as Professor Greg Sisk, view the Justice as an unprincipled judge who let his personal views on the issues before the Court control his jurisprudence.' More damning words cannot be spoken about a judge, and Roe v. Wade of course is the case they focus on. His strongest proponents, most famously Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh and Stanford Law School Professor Pam Karlan, view the Justice as a man of high principle who worked carefully, methodically, …
Reflections On Judging: A Discussion Following The Release Of The Blackmun Papers, Martha Dragich Pearson, Christina E. Wells
Reflections On Judging: A Discussion Following The Release Of The Blackmun Papers, Martha Dragich Pearson, Christina E. Wells
Missouri Law Review
Justice Blackmun's papers were opened to the public on March 4, 2004, the fifth anniversary of his death. Held in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, the collection includes over half a million items, many handwritten by Justice Blackmun. Anyone can read them. For legal scholars, this kind of research can only be described as exhilarating and many of the articles in this symposium draw on research from Justice Blackmun's papers. For the public, the release comes at a time when the interest in judges is particularly acute.
Willful Judging Of Harry Blackmun, The, Gregory C. Sisk
Willful Judging Of Harry Blackmun, The, Gregory C. Sisk
Missouri Law Review
As an invited guest at a symposium in which a central place is given to examining the personal papers and judicial life of a jurist who is esteemed and even revered by many of those participating and attending, my playing of a negative note may sound discordant. Indeed, it may appear downright rude. Because my hosts assured me that the academic ideal of balanced perspectives and critical analysis animated this symposium, and that they would expect nothing less than such a countervailing viewpoint from me, I feel less churlish than otherwise I might.
Revelations From The Blackmun Papers On The Development Of Death Penalty Law, Martha Dragich Pearson
Revelations From The Blackmun Papers On The Development Of Death Penalty Law, Martha Dragich Pearson
Missouri Law Review
Justice Blackmun's legacy is strongly linked to two issues - abortion and capital punishment. Blackmun's opinions in these controversial areas account for much of the notion that his ideology changed while on the Court. Participants in this Symposium have reflected on these and other areas where Justice Blackmun left his mark on American law. Professor Deason explores the arbitrability cases and shows that the Court struggled - and Justices changed their minds - even in connection with relatively technical legal issues arising in non-controversial commercial contexts. One reason the Court struggles with some issues is that legal standards are (or …
Tales From The Blackmun Papers: A Fuller Appreciation Of Harry Blackmun's Judicial Legacy, Joseph F. Kobylka
Tales From The Blackmun Papers: A Fuller Appreciation Of Harry Blackmun's Judicial Legacy, Joseph F. Kobylka
Missouri Law Review
Even after he leaves the Court, a Justice remains part of the orchestra. Those who succeed him may not copy his style, but often play within the same melodic and rhythmic structures. Justice Blackmun himself, over the course of preparing his Roe and Doe opinions, eventually fell into the structures put in place in cases ranging from Union Pacific Railway Co. v. Botsford to Stanley v. Georgia. The Justices he left behind did much the same with Roe and, more significantly, Bowers. The Court's decision in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey represented a partial "victory" for Justice Blackmun, …
Why Do Supreme Court Justices Succeed Or Fail - Harry Blackmun As An Example, Lawrence S. Wrightsman, Justin R. La Mort
Why Do Supreme Court Justices Succeed Or Fail - Harry Blackmun As An Example, Lawrence S. Wrightsman, Justin R. La Mort
Missouri Law Review
At present, 108 Justices have served on the United States Supreme Court. Some have clearly been successes as judges, while a few have clearly not, and a large number are cast into that middle, "satisfactory" or "average," category. The purpose of this paper is to propose, examine, and evaluate specific factors as determinants of judicial success, and then to consider Justice Harry Blackmun's place on a continuum of successes and failures. The paper is divided into three sections. First, it reviews several ideal qualities and examines the results of several surveys of experts, which classify the Justices into categories based …
Internationalism Of Justice Harry Blackmun, The, Margaret E. Mcguinness
Internationalism Of Justice Harry Blackmun, The, Margaret E. Mcguinness
Missouri Law Review
This comment is intended to provide a roadmap for closer examination of the Blackmun Papers and to evaluate the sources of internationalism in Justice Blackmun's opinions. An understanding of those sources can in turn inform typologies of internationalism among other Justices, past, present, and future. It seems particularly salient to be discussing the internationalist aspects of Justice Blackmun's legacy today, at a time when the Court is deeply divided on questions of executive power over foreign affairs, the relevance of foreign and international political practices and judicial opinions to constitutional interpretation, and the extent to which decisions of international tribunals …
Some Reflections On The Symposium: Judging, The Classical Legal Paradigm, And The Possible Contributions Of Science, Christina E. Wells
Some Reflections On The Symposium: Judging, The Classical Legal Paradigm, And The Possible Contributions Of Science, Christina E. Wells
Missouri Law Review
One theme running through the many excellent contributions to this symposium involves the myriad influences of judicial decision-making. As Professor Wrightsman notes, Supreme Court Justices' personal characteristics may affect their ability to influence colleagues and, consequently, the outcome of Supreme Court decisions. Professor Ruger observes that judges have both attitudinal and jurisprudential preferences that may change over time, affecting legal outcomes differently as time passes. Professor Sisk similarly notes that judges' personal values and experiences influence their decision-making. These observations are consistent with those of numerous other scholars, who find wide-ranging and diverse influences on the judicial resolution of legal …