Law Commons^™

Interview With Judge Harvey Bartle, Shirin Heidary, Harvey Bartle Iii, Legal Oral History Project, University Of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Legal Oral History Project

For transcript, click the Download button above. For video index, click the link below.

Harvey Bartle III (L '65) is a senior judge of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He served as chief judge of that court from 2006 to 2011.

Interview With Justice Randy J. Holland, Katie Harrison, Randy J. Holland, Legal Oral History Project, University Of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Legal Oral History Project

For transcript, click the Download button above. For video index, click the link below.

Randy J. Holland (L '72) served as a Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from 1986 until his retirement in 2017. At the time of his appointment he was the youngest person ever to serve on that court.

Assessing The New Judicial Minimalism, Christopher J. Peters

All Faculty Scholarship

In this article, which has been published in slightly revised form at 100 Colum. L. Rev. 1454 (2000), I critique some recently prominent arguments for "judicial minimalism" in constitutional decisionmaking. Current minimalist arguments, I contend, are primarily "policentric," that is, focused on the role the judiciary can play in bolstering the accountability and deliberativeness of the political branches. Drawing in part on a previous article, I offer an alternative approach to minimalism that is "juricentric" - focused on the inherent democratic legitimacy of the adjudicative process and the unique competence of that process to produce decisions about individual rights. I …

Section 2: The Direction Of The Court, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

John Marshall, Mcculloch V. Maryland, And The Southern States' Rights Tradition, R. Kent Newmyer

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

My Lai: An American Tragedy, William G. Eckhardt

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Juristic Giants: A Georgia Study In Reputation, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

In 1990, Judge Richard Posner published CARDOZO: A STUDY IN REPUTATION. A deceptively small volume (only 156 pages), the book purported to delineate and dissect the facets of circumstance, achievement, and character accounting for Benjamin Cardozo's reputation for "greatness." Treating such indicia (both tangible and intangible) as Cardozo's "person," "philosophy," "technique," and "contributions," Posner also sought a handle for "measuring the magnitude" of reputation itself. He hit, of course, upon the modern mechanical mainstay of computerization: a finger-tip presentation of the frequency with which Cardozo's name appears in other judicial opinions.

A. Leon Higginbotham Jr.: Who Will Carry The Baton?, F. Michael Higginbotham, José F. Anderson

All Faculty Scholarship

It was a rainy November day during Thanksgiving weekend of 1997. The scene was the Washington, D.C., childhood home of Dr. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, A. Leon Higginbotham Jr.'s beloved wife. Our assignment was to assist in the removal, packing, and transport of a few prized family heirlooms that were to be taken to their home in Newton, Massachusetts.

On the early morning drive into Washington, D.C., our conversation was mostly idle chit-chat. Little did we know that the circumstances of the day would lead to an amazing set of discussions, the importance of which we could never have imagined at …

Criticizing The Courts: A Lawyer’S Duty (Iii), Roger J. Miner '56

Lawyers and the Legal Profession

No abstract provided.

John Marshall As An American Original: Some Thoughts On Personality And Judicial Statesmanship, R. Kent Newmyer

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Thoughts On The Virtues Of Passive Dialogue, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The judicial, legislative, and executive branches interact in many ways. These interactions fuel a constitutional dialogue that serves as a backdrop to myriad governmental activities, both large and small. The judiciary's participation is necessary, desirable, and, as a practical matter, inevitable. In my article I analyze two competing models that bear on the normative question: What form should the judiciary's participation take?

Debates over the judiciary's appropriate role in the public constitutional dialogue have captured scholarly attention for decades. Recent attention has focused on a growing distinction between the active and passive models of judicial participation. My article approaches this …

Minnesota Court Of Appeals Hears Oral Argument Via Interactive Teleconferencing Technology, Edward Toussaint

Faculty Scholarship

The Minnesota Court of Appeals is dedicated to providingaffordable access to the appellate process. Access to theappellate process is central to our vision. In order to promote this vision, the Minnesota Court ofAppeals has taken the initiative to implement Interactive VideoTeleconferencing ("IVT"). This essay will discuss the historybehind this decision, the mechanics of its implementation, andthe benefits and challenges of its application to the appellateprocess.

Judicial Lobbying At The Wto: The Debate Over The Use Of Amicus Curiae Briefs And The U.S. Experience, Padideh Ala'i

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The continuing debate over the use of amicus curiae briefs at the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) raises interesting questions about the influence of the U.S. legal system on the WTO dispute settlement process. Specifically, it brings to the surface differences between legal cultures and the fact that the U.S. legal culture with its emphasis on procedure is not readily transferable to the WTO. Comparing the controversy regarding the use of amicus curiae briefs before WTO Panels and the Appellate Body with the history and evolution of the institution of amicus curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court may help explain the …

Playing On Words: Judge Richard A. Posner's Appellate Opinions, 1981-82--Ruminations On Sexy Judicial Opinion Style During An Extraordinary Rookie Season, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Thoughts On Some Potential Appellate And Trial Court Applications Of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Steve Leben

Faculty Works

To date, the application of therapeutic jurisprudence principles has been concentrated mainly on specialized trial courts: drug treat­ment courts, domestic violence courts, criminal courts, and juvenile and family courts. Its application to trial courts generally, as well as its application to the appellate courts, remains largely unexplored. This Article considers three areas in which trial and appellate courts may want to consider applying therapeutic jurisprudence.

My conclusions about the application of therapeutic jurispru­dence to the appellate courts are admittedly tentative ones: my day job is sitting as a state general jurisdiction trial judge, not as an appel­late court judge. Although …

Judges And Federalism: A Comment On "Justice Kennedy's Vision Of Federalism", Robert F. Nagel

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Role Of The Law Review In The Tradition Of Judicial Scholarship, Kenneth F. Ripple

Journal Articles

This article explores one of the most important sources of judicial education, the law review. Part I first examines, by way of introduction, why continued intellectual growth is so important to the American jurist of today. It then sets forth the growth of the law review as an institution within the legal profession. Part II examines the various roles that law reviews play traditionally in the intellectual life of a judge and suggests, with respect to each, certain improvements in the judge-law review relationship designed both to enhance the effectiveness of the law review as an intellectual companion and to …

Cardozo The [Small R] Realist, Richard D. Friedman

Reviews

In Part I of this Review, I will discuss aspects of Cardozo's life and character. In Part II, I will discuss Cardozo's jurisprudential theory as revealed in his lectures and essays. In Part IlI, I will suggest how we gain a better perspective on his judicial opinions by understanding not only that theory but also the man and his life.

Variations On Some Themes Of A Disporting Gazelle And His Friend: Statutory Interpretation As Seen By Jerome Frank And Felix Frankfurter, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

In 1947, this Review published two lectures on statutory interpretation by Jerome Frank and Felix Frankfurter. Both jurists were concerned with a basic question: How constrained are judges when they interpret legislation? The answers each gives, while similar in some respects, differ strikingly. In arguing that interpretation necessarily involves a creative element, Frank analogizes the role of a judge in interpreting legislation to that of a performer in interpreting a musical composition. Although he argues that judicial creativity is constrained, Frank views statutory interpretation as "a kind of legislation." For Frankfurter, by contrast, in construing a statute, a judge is …

The Politics Of Meaning: Law Dictionaries And The Liberal Tradition Of Interpretation, Gary L. Mcdowell

Law Faculty Publications

At least since John Cowell's Interpreter was adjudged by the Committee on Grievances of the House of Commons in 1610 to be "very unadvised, and undiscreet, tending to the disreputation of the honour and power of the common laws" have law dictionaries been objects of occasional controversy. Yet legal dictionaries, as well as dictionaries more generally, have remained a constant resource in American law for those seeking to give meaning to the words of both statutes and constitutional provisions. They have appeared in the pages of the reports since the beginning of the republic; a majority of the justices of …

Deciphering Courts Of Appeals Decisions Using The U.S. Courts Of Appeals Data Base, Tracey E. George, Reginald S. Sheehan

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Is one circuit significantly more conservative or liberal than the others? Do circuit courts consistently avoid deciding the substance of certain appeals by concluding that the plaintiffs lack standing? Have state governments been more successful than other parties when they appeal adverse district court rulings? Do appeals courts act in a majoritarian or countermajoritarian manner with regard to elected institutions and the general public? The United States Courts of Appeals Data Base, an extensive data set of courts of appeals decisions, can address these and other questions about the circuit courts. This article describes the background, scope, and content of …

Corrective Justice And The Revival Of Judicial Virtue, Mark C. Modak-Truran

Journal Articles

Judges must be wise. Sound judicial reasoning requires moral virtue. These sentiments about judging have been lost. They apparently belong to a bygone era. While many advocate self-restraint or prudence as judicial virtues, moral virtue has been conspicuously absent from the list. Except for avoiding obvious vices such as bribery, favoritism, prejudice, sloth, and arbitrariness, conventional wisdom maintains that being a good judge does not require being a good person. Even theorists sympathetic to a relationship between law and morality balk at making moral virtue a prerequisite of judicial decision making. Rather, many contend that judicial decision making is a …

Rational Recreation And The Law: The Transformation Of Popular Urban Leisure In Victorian England , Rachel Vorspan

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, Rachel Vorspan investigates the complex role played by the courts in the social and cultural transformation of Victorian England. Through focusing on judicial rulings in the recreational as well as political and industrial contexts she explains how the English judiciary played an important function in "rationalizing" the major institutions and practices of urban leisure

The Bitter With The Sweet: Tradition, History, And Limitations On Federal Judicial Power--A Case Study, Stephen B. Burbank

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Critical Hermeneutics: The Intertwining Of Explanation And Understanding As Exemplified In Legal Analysis, George H. Taylor

Articles

One of the most vexing questions in hermeneutics is whether it can be critical-whether it can engage in critique. In Part I of this Article, I show how within legal hermeneutics the element of critique is present even within those forms of legal interpretation most adherent to stances of "understanding." Here I concentrate on the work of Robert Bork and Justice Antonin Scalia and demonstrate how distance, separation, critique is present within their theories. In Part II, I reverse emphases and show how elements of "understanding" persist within legal theories most avowedly reliant on forms of "explanation." My exemplar here …

The Complicated Ingredients Of Wisdom And Leadership, Michael A. Fitts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Chicago Conspiracy Trial: Character And Judicial Discretion, Pnina Lahav

Faculty Scholarship

On October 29, 1969, sometime after two o'clock in the afternoon, following yet another heated exchange with defendant Bobby Seale in a courtroom full of spectators, reporters, and armed guards, Judge Julius Jennings Hoffman turned to a marshal and ordered: "Take that defendant into the room in there and deal with him as he should be dealt with in this circumstance."' Judge Hoffman described the aftermath:

In an attempt to maintain order in the courtroom, the Court thereupon ordered the defendant Seale removed from the courtroom at which time he was forcibly restrained by binding and gagging. The defendant Seale …

Political Questions, Judicial Questions, And The Problem Of Washington V. Glucksberg, Carl E. Schneider

Other Publications

Over a century and a half ago, Alexis de Tocqueville famously said, "Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question." Physician-assisted suicide superbly illustrates Tocqueville's acute observation. For a number of years, assisted suicide was the prototype of a (nonpartisan) political question. Interest groups brought it to public attention. Public discussion of it flourished. Legislatures debated it. Citizens in several states decided in referenda whether to make it legal. Almost suddenly, however, this classic political process was transformed into a judicial one by the startling and strongly stated …

Foreword: Causes And Limits Of Pessimism, Stephen B. Burbank

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Making Biomedical Policy Through Constitutional Adjudication:The Example Of Physician-Assisted Suicide, Carl E. Scheider

Book Chapters

Throughout most of American history no one would have supposed biomedical policy could or should be made through constitutional adjudication. No one would have thought that the Constitution spoke to biomedical issues, that those issues were questions of federal policy, or that judges were competent to handle them. Today, however, the resurgence of substantive due process has swollen the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment, the distinction between federal and state spheres is tattered, and few statutes escape judicial vetting. Furthermore, Abraham Lincoln's wish that the Constitution should "become the political religion of the nation" has been granted. "We now reverently …