Law Commons^™

Le Role Politique De La Cour Supreme, Toujours Recommence, Elisabeth Zoller

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Judicial Independence: Tweak The Guiding Paradigm, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Over time, the public has simply ceased to believe judges when say that they follow the law, and nothing but. If judges impose their ideological policy preferences, the argument goes, why should they be independent from political controls, when other policymakers are not? We have reached the point where, when judges seek to defend the customs and conventions that have guarded against incursions upon their independence by arguing that “we are all about the law and nothing else,” the public response has increasingly become, “No, no, no, your nose is growing.”

Circumventing Standing To Appeal, Ryan W. Scott

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The requirement of standing to sue in federal court is familiar, but the related requirement of standing to appeal within the Article III judiciary is badly undertheorized. The Supreme Court’s opinions suggest (at least) four constitutional rationales. Standing to appeal might serve the same functional purposes as standing to sue, or it might follow from the fact that appeals involve two separate courts, or it might be triggered because the underlying case or controversy has become moot, or because it has reached the point of final judgment.

Compounding the confusion, the requirement of standing to appeal can have troubling consequences …

Fines, Fees, And Filing Bankruptcy, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

When faced with mounting civil or criminal court fines, fees, and interest-"court debt," as broadly defined-people may consider turning to the bankruptcy system to deal with that debt. Every year, about a million people file bankruptcy, seeking to discharge most of their debts. Although most court debt is categorically nondischargeable, bankruptcy's discharge may provide people struggling with court debt a way to wipe the slate somewhat clean so they have a better chance of paying such debt. Also, people who file bankruptcy under chapter 13--one of the two most common chapters filed by consumers are entitled to a so-called "superdischarge" …

The Categorical Imperative As A Decarceral Agenda, Jessica M. Eaglin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In his forthcoming book, The Insidious Momentum of Mass Incarceration, Frank Zimring proposes two alternative methods to decarcerate: states can adopt a categorical imperative to reduce prison populations or states can reform the governance of sentencing. This symposium Essay focuses on the first of these options, as proposed in his tentative Chapter Six, wherein Zimring calls for categorically removing drug-addicted offenders from eligibility for prison sanctions and expanding use of jails for categories of offenses or offenders.

These methods, I suggest, exist in tension with numerous popular sentencing reforms being implemented in the states right now. Popular reforms, including the …