Law Commons^™

An American Original, Ronald L. Carlson

Scholarly Works

This is one of many articles tributing Judge Myron H. Bright in recognition of thirty years of service on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. This article describes Professor Carlson's relationship with Judge Bright and details Judge Bright's career.

Charting The Influences On The Judicial Mind: An Empirical Study Of Judicial Reasoning, Gregory C. Sisk, Michael Heise, Andrew P. Morriss

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In 1988, hundreds of federal district judges were suddenly confronted with the need to render a decision on the constitutionality of the Sentencing Reform Act and the newly promulgated criminal Sentencing Guidelines. Never before has a question of such importance and involving such significant issues of constitutional law mandated the immediate and simultaneous attention of such a large segment of the federal trial bench. Accordingly, this event provides an archetypal model for exploring the influence of social background, ideology, judicial role and institution, and other factors on judicial decisionmaking. Based upon a unique set of written decisions involving an identical …

Justice Blackmun's Federal Tax Jurisprudence, Robert A. Green

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

During his tenure on the Supreme Court, Justice Blackmun was widely regarded as the Court's authority on tax matters. Justice Blackmun viewed tax law not merely as a technical specialty, but as a microcosm of the legal system. His numerous tax opinions involve a wide range of issues of constitutional law, criminal law, administrative procedure, court procedure, and statutory interpretation. This Article begins by discussing two of Justice Blackmun's tax opinions involving constitutional issues. Justice Blackmun refused to create special constitutional rules for tax cases. Instead, he applied generally applicable principles, but with great sensitivity to how those principles would …

Justice Blackmun, Franz Kafka, And Capital Punishment, Martha Dragich

Faculty Publications

The Article discusses the problem of judging death penalty cases, comparing Justice Blackmun's death penalty jurisprudence to the struggle of a character in Kafka's story. It focuses on three critical moments in the decisional process--hesitation, decision, and escape--and assesses Justice Blackmun's performance at each step. It concludes that although Justice Blackmun's views remained consistent throughout his judicial career, his death penalty legacy is equivocal, and in some important respects, unsatisfying.

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

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Section 9: Justice Powell, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law At The William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Judicial Disciplinary Law, Robin Jean Davis, Louis J. Palmer Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conclusion, Robin Jean Davis, Louis J. Palmer Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction And Table Of Contents, Robin Jean Davis, Louis J. Palmer Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comment On Frederick Schauer's Prediction And Particularity Comment, Gerald F. Leonard

Faculty Scholarship

Ignorance of the law is generally no excuse. I say generally because the century since the publication of The Path of the Law has brought a small but increasing number of exceptions to the rule. In Oliver Wendell Holmes's day, however, exceptions to the rule were nearly nonexistent, much to Holmes's satisfaction.1 In The Common Law, Holmes said that the law requires persons "at their peril to know the teachings of common experience, just as it requires them to know the law." 2 He did not, of course, actually think that common experience was perfectly knowable or judicial interpretation perfectly …

An Outsider's View Of Common Law Evidence, Roger C. Park

Michigan Law Review

same line by a Newton. There have been improvements since Bentham's jeremiad. But Anglo-American evidence law is still puzzling. It rejects the common-sense principle of free proof in favor of a grotesque jumble of technicalities. It has the breathtaking aspiration of regulating inference by rule, causing it to exalt the foresight of remote rulemakers over the wisdom of on-the-spot adjudicators. It departs from tried-and-true practices of rational inquiry, as when it prohibits courts from using categories of evidence that are freely used both in everyday life and in the highest affairs of state. Sometimes it seems to fear dim light …

Textualism, The Unknown Ideal?, William N. Eskridge Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In May 1997, the New York Knickerbockers basketball team was poised to reach the finals of its division in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Knicks led the rival Miami Heat by three games to two and needed one more victory to win the best-of seven semifinal playoff series. Game six would be in New York; with their star center, Patrick Ewing, playing well, victory seemed assured for the Knicks. A fracas during game five changed the odds. During a fight under the basket between Knicks and Heat players, Ewing left the bench and paced in the middle of the …

Lessons From The Fall, Andrea D. Lyon

Michigan Law Review

This book is both better and worse than one would expect. It is the story of Sol Wachtler, former Chief Judge of New York State Court of Appeals. Wachtler had an extramarital affair with a woman for whom he had been appointed executor, and after the breakup he stalked her with letters, phone calls, and threats. Eventually he was convicted of extortion and sent to prison. His fall from power is what fascinates us, of course, but that is not what is valuable about this book. It answers an outsider's questions about the prison experience, seems to reflect accurately the …

A Positive Psychological Theory Of Judging In Hindsight, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

R. V. R.D.S.: A Political Science Perspective, Jennifer Smith

Dalhousie Law Journal

Political scientists, including those who study Canadian government and politics, regard the judiciary as a component of the system of governance as a whole. They view it as an institution in relation to other institutions. Thus in The Judiciary in Canada: The Third Branch of Government, Peter Russell examines such issues as the structure of the judiciary in the federal system, the separation of powers and judicial independence, and the appointment, promotion and removal of judges.' As well, political scientists follow the development of the law itself, in areas of peculiar relevance to political life, like electoral law, or of …

Coping With "Loss": A Re-Examination Of Sentencing Federal Economic Crimes Under The Guidelines, Frank O. Bowman, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

The primary determinant of sentence length for federal economic criminals is the amount of "loss" resulting from an offender's conduct.' The idea of basing sentences for economic crimes primarily on "loss" has become the source of ongoing, complex, and proliferating disputes about what the term "loss" really means and how it should be interpreted in particular cases. The "loss" calculation is one of the most frequently litigated issues in federal sentencing law. There are at present splits of opinion between the federal circuits on at least eleven analytically distinct issues concerning the meaning and application of the "loss" concept. Even …

Oregon V. Elstad Revisited: Urging State Court Judges To Depart From The U.S. Supreme Court's Narrowing Of Miranda, Claudia R. Barbieri

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Imagine an average young man on the threshold of adulthood, living in a medium-sized town in a middle-class family. Still in his early years, he gets into a little local trouble and one day finds the police at his door. They ask him questions about a burglary. He panics, and as he racks his brain for some scrap of legal knowledge that might get him out of this frightening situation, he admits that he knows about the crime, stating he was there. The police become more persistent, telling him they know about his involvement, asking him if he wants to …

Remembering The Fourth Circuit Judges: A History From 1941 To 1998

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fostering Balance On The Federal Courts , Carl Tobias

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crisis En La Corte Suprema, Horacio M. Lynch

Horacio M. LYNCH

Presentación en la conferencia dictada en la ciudad de Córdoba, con motivo de la reunión de la Federación de Colegios de Abogados de la Provincia de Córdoba.

A Matter Of Power: Structural Federalism And Separation Doctrine In The Present, Frances Howell Rudko

Faculty Publications

Public reaction to the 1823 Supreme Court decision in Green v. Biddle prompted John Marshall’s letter to Henry Clay, who had argued the case as amicus curiae for the defendant. The letter is significant because Marshall, who had been a legislator himself, candidly expresses not only his personal dissatisfaction with the congressional assault on the 1823 decision but also the constitutional basis for his opinion. The significance of Marshall’s extrajudicial opinion becomes more apparent when it is considered in the aftermath of the recent tug-of-war between Congress and the Court which culminated in the decision in City of Boerne v. …

The Religious Dimension Of Judicial Decision Making And The Defacto Disestablishment, Mark C. Modak-Truran

Journal Articles

Despite the de facto disestablishment of religion, I will try to illustrate the centrality of religion as a resource for understanding judicial decision making. The central question for this inquiry is: What, if any, is the role of religious beliefs in judicial decision making?

Batson Ethics For Prosecutors And Trial Court Judges, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Chutzpah As A Legal Term: The Chutzpah Championship, Chutzpah Award, Chutzpah Doctrine, And Now, The Supreme Court, Jack Achiezer Guggenheim

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Federal Judicial Selection In A Time Of Divided Government,, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Congress has authorized 179 active judges for the United States Courts of Appeals and 649 active judges for the United States District Courts. Eighty-two judgeships are now vacant, although the size and complexity of federal caseloads continue to increase. More than thirty openings are considered "judicial emergencies" because they have remained unfilled for eighteen months. The Ninth Circuit, which must resolve the largest docket of the twelve regional appellate courts, currently has nine vacancies on a circuit with twenty eight active judges and for which the Judicial Conference has recommended the creation of nine additional judgeships. The Speedy Trial Act's …

Judge William B. Jones And Judge Edward A. Tamm Judicial Lecture Series, E. Edwin Eck

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article is a tribute to the two federal judges in whose memory the Judge William B. Jones and Judge Edward A. Tamm Judicial Lecture Series is named. The Judicial Lecture Series, held at the University of Montana School of Law, is designed to engage students, faculty, practicing lawyers, and judges in study and discussion leading to an enhanced understanding of our judicial system and the roles of attorneys and judges in that system.

Authorizing Interpretation, Pierre Schlag

Publications

No abstract provided.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Extending The Constitution, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 197 (1998), Amy Walsh

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Home Businesses, Llamas And Aluminum Siding: Trends In Covenant Enforcement, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 443 (1998), Katharine N. Rosenberry

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Former C-Gcc Graduate Relishes Work In Courtroom, Roger J. Miner '56

News Articles

No abstract provided.