Courts Commons^™

Dear Chief Judge Schroeder, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Dear Judge Schroeder: Congratulations on becoming the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Procter Hug, Jr., transferred that office to you on December 1, 2000, during a quiet period in the tribunal's life, affording several months of relative calm m which to assume the daunting responsibility for Ninth Circuit operations. Your twenty-one-year service as an active court member will promote the felicitous discharge of your new duties as chief judge and will ease resolution of the difficulties that the tribunal will invariably encounter.

You have entered the pantheon of leaders whose century …

A Note On The Neutral Assignment Of Federal Appellate Judges, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Response to J. Robert Brown, Jr. & Allison Herren Lee, Neutral Assignment of Judges at the Court of Appeals, 78 Tex. L. Rev. 1037 (2000).

Dear President Bush, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias offers advice on judicial selection philosophy for the newly-elected President George W. Bush.

The Expiration Of The Civil Justice Reform Act Of 1990, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Ever since the United States Congress passed the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA), a minor mystery of federal court jurisprudence has been whether - and if so, precisely when - that significant and controversial legislation expired. The measure instituted unprecedented nationwide experimentation with procedures that lawmakers intended to decrease cost and delay in civil litigation, but the statute's implementation additionally balkanized federal practice and procedure.

Redistricting In A Post-Shaw Era: A Small Treatise Accompanied By Districting Guidelines For Legislators, Litigants, And Courts, Katharine Inglis Butler

University of Richmond Law Review

Legislators in jurisdictions with even modest minority populations will find adopting a challenge-resistant redistricting plan to be more difficult than ever before. The problem is how much consideration to give to race. Too little consideration may produce a plan subject to challenge under the Voting Rights Act (the "Act"). Too much consideration may produce a plan subject to challenge on constitutional grounds.

A Preferable Approach For The Ninth Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

United States Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) recently introduced Senate Bill 2184, which would split the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit into two circuits. This measure differs from Senate Bill 253 that embodies the recommendations submitted to Congress by the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals after its one-year study. The Commission found "no persuasive evidence that the Ninth Circuit ... is not working effectively" and clearly rejected bifurcation. However, the Commission recommended that Congress impose a divisional restructuring on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and authorize the …

Local Federal Civil Procedure For The Twenty-First Century, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Federal civil procedure is now byzantine. Lawyers and parties face, and federal judges apply, a bewildering panorama of requirements. There are strictures in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as well as Title 28 of the United States Code and dozens of substantive statutes. A stunning array of local measures-including local rules; general, special, and scheduling orders; individual-judge practices; and mechanisms that courts adopted under the Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA) of 1990 to reduce cost and delay-also govern cases in all ninety-four districts. Many of the provisions· are inconsistent or duplicative, while a significant percentage are difficult to discover, …

Anastasoff, Unpublished Opinions, And Federal Appellate Justice, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In Anastasoff v. United States, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently invalidated the court's local rule of appellate procedure providing that "unpublished opinions are not precedent and parties generally should not cite them." Eighth Circuit Judge Richard S. Arnold authored the opinion, holding that this local requirement violates Article ill of the United States Constitution. Regardless of whether the provocative decision in Anastasoff is constitutionally sound, the opinion trenchantly emphasizes the critical significance of a public policy issue that has remained essentially untreated for too long.

The three-judge panel, thus, threw …

The Bush Administration And Appeals Courts Nominees, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

On May 9, President George H.W. Bush announced his first set of nominees for the United States Courts of Appeals. With a White House ceremony which chief executives traditionally reserve for United States Supreme Court designees, the president introduced eleven individuals whom he proposed for vacancies on the federal intermediate appellate courts. Submitting a package of appeals court nominees might seem to be a relatively mundane exercise. However, the developments that led to Bush's recommendations, the staging of this event, and the candidates tendered actually reveal much about contemporary judicial selection, which is a critical feature of constitutional governance. For …

Charles Alan Wright And The Fragmentation Of Federal Practice And Procedure, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Memorial tribute to Professor Charles Alan Wright.

Divisional Arrangement For The Federal Appeals Courts, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The 106th Congress seriously considered proposed legislation that could profoundly affect the federal appellate courts, and the 107th Congress may well do so. The Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals, which performed a rather comprehensive, albeit incomplete, study of the tribunals, recommended this bill as the centerpiece of its report for Congress. The commissioners prescribed regionally-based adjudicative divisions for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for the remaining appellate courts when the courts increase in size, even as the commission decisively rejected the possibility of splitting the Ninth Circuit into multiple …

A Pragmatic Justification Of The Judicial Hunch, Mark C. Modak-Truran

University of Richmond Law Review

Judges currently face a daunting task. On the one hand, they are increasingly aware of the indeterminacy of the law, while on the other hand, they face an explosion of fact. Judges are floating on shaky legal timbers in a sea of documents, deposition transcripts, affidavits, oral courtroom testimony, and expert opinions. The explosion of fact alone presents monumental problems for deciding cases without unduly simplifying or reducing this factual complexity. For example, both federal and state judges are implementing case management systems to deal with their crushing case loads and the increasing complexity of their cases. In addition, there …

The Next Step For The Ninth Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Arthur Hellman recently published a trenchant critique of the report compiled by the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals. In The Unkindest Cut: The White Commission Proposal to Restructure the Ninth Circuit, he emphasizes that the report adduced little empirical data which demonstrate that the Ninth Circuit operates inefficaciously. Indeed, the commissioners candidly declared: "There is no persuasive evidence that the Ninth Circuit ... is not working effectively ... .'' Despite this admission, the Commission prescribed drastic change with a divisional concept, which Professor Hellman finds flawed. He thus urges that Congress "reject the proposal …

Natural Resources And The White Commission Report, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Individuals and entities with concerns regarding environmental issues as well as those concerned about the federal judicial system have carefully followed the debate over the possible division of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that has been raging since 1995. During the first session of the 105th Congress, the Senate approved an appropriations rider, which would have established a new Twelfth Circuit including Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and would have left California and Nevada in the Ninth Circuit. That action was very important because neither house of …

The White Commission And The Federal Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals, or White Commission, ("the Commission") recently issued a report and recommendations for Congress and the President after studying the appellate courts for a year. The Commission investigation emphasized the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, as Congress had instructed. The centerpiece of the Commission's recommendations was a divisional arrangement for the Ninth Circuit and the remaining appellate courts as their caseloads increase. Notwithstanding this focus on the Ninth Circuit, the commissioners compiled a substantial amount of objective empirical data and some subjective information on the other …

Judicial Selection At The Clinton Administration's End, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

During his presidency, Bill Clinton appointed almost half of the presently sitting federal appellate and district court judges. He, therefore, can justifiably claim that he has left a lasting imprint on the federal judiciary. During his 1992 presidential campaign, Clinton promised to choose intelligent, diligent, and independent judges who would increase balance, vigorously enforce fundamental constitutional rights, and possess measured judicial temperament. The initial achievement of the Clinton Administration in selecting members of the federal bench, who make it more diverse and who are exceptionally qualified, demonstrates that the President fulfilled these campaign pledges. President Clinton named unprecedented numbers and …

Taking Regulatory Takings Personally: The Perils Of (Mis)Reasoning By Analogy, Michael Allan Wolf

Law Faculty Publications

In a troublesome area of the law, it is hard for a legal academic to resist the temptation to attempt to "enlighten" the judiciary. It has not been the author's practice to date, in ruminating on the profound puzzle of regulatory takings, to instruct judges concerning the errors of their ways. Because only an insider can be truly familiar with the nuances of a specific legal challenge and owing to a deep respect for the judicial craft, this writer has resisted the urge to preach. It has been a sufficiently provocative challenge to interpret the meanings and implications of decisions …

Civil Justice Delay And Empirical Data: A Response To Professor Heise, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

One decade ago, Congress undertook an ambitious, controversial effort to reduce expense and delay in the federal civil justice system. The Civil Justice Reform Act ("CJRA") of 1990 instituted unprecedented nationwide experimentation by requiring that all ninety-four federal district courts scrutinize their civil and criminal dockets and then promulgate and apply numerous procedures which district judges believed would save cost and time in civil litigation. Congress also prescribed rigorous assessment of the six principles, guidelines, and techniques of litigation management and expense and delay reduction that federal districts in fact adopted and enforced. Lawmakers provided for an expert, independent evaluator …

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Choosing Judges At The Close Of The Clinton Administration, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias suggests that federal judicial selection is one important area in which ·President Bill Clinton hopes that he will leave a legacy. The author finds that the first Clinton Administration realized much success in choosing judges who make the federal judiciary more diverse and who possess excellent qualifications. Over the last five years, however, the Administration has not been equally successful either in placing highly competent female and minority attorneys on the bench or in filling the perennial judicial vacancies, partly because the Republican Party has enjoyed a significant majority in the Senate. The author's analysis shows that similar …

Chief Judge Martin And The Modern Sixth Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In his article, In Defense of Unpublished Opinions, 60 Ohio St. LJ. 177 (1999), Chief Judge Boyce F. Martin, Jr. has recently and eloquently championed judicial reliance on unpublished opinions. Judge Martin, who speaks from more than two decades of service on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, substantially improves understanding of this court. Judge Martin informally and pragmatically scrutinizes critical problems that confront the modern regional circuits through the prism of unpublished determinations while elucidating judicial dependence on these decisions. Judge Martin apologizes for the dearth of empirical data on the decisions' invocation, but the …

The Federal Appeals Courts At Century's End, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals submitted its report and suggestions to the United States Congress and the President in December 1998. The Commission spent ten months studying the "structure and alignment of the Federal Court of Appeals system, with particular reference to the Ninth Circuit," and two months developing "recommendations for such changes in circuit boundaries or structure as may be appropriate for the expeditious and effective disposition of the caseload of the Federal Courts of Appeals, consistent with fundamental concepts of fairness and due process." The centerpiece of the Commission's proposal is the …

Filling The Federal Appellate Openings On The 9th Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Throughout much of the 1990s, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has operated with fewer than the court's complete complement of 28 active judges. Since 1995, when Republican senators representing states of the Pacific Northwest instituted a serious campaign to divide the 9th Circuit, the court has essentially functioned absent one-fourth of its membership. The large number of openings and their protracted nature, as well as a steadily expanding docket, have demanded that the 9th Circuit depend on many appellate and district court judges who are not active members of the 9th Circuit when staffing three-judge …

Leaving A Legacy On The Federal Courts, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

During the 1992 campaign for the presidency, then Governor Bill Clinton promised to appoint judges who would increase balance on the federal courts, would be intelligent, would possess appropriate judicial temperament, and would be committed to enforcing fundamental constitutional rights. The record compiled during the first Clinton Administration demonstrates that the Chief Executive fulfilled his campaign pledges by choosing judges who more closely reflected American society and who were well qualified. President Clinton named an unprecedented number and percentage of highly competent women and minorities to the federal courts; however, in the second two years of his first term in …

A Split By Any Other Name ..., Carl W. Tobias, Proctor Hug Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

We applaud the contribution that the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals (White Commission) has made to the public debate regarding how the federal courts of appeals can cope with the demands of ever increasing caseloads and no new judicial resources. The White Commission has conscientiously discharged its challenging assignment in the very brief period which Congress allotted. We believe, however, that a careful review of the Commission's research reveals no significant evidence of dysfunction in any court of appeals, and certainly none sufficiently severe to warrant its ultimate recommendation to restructure the Ninth Circuit Court …

A Federal Appellate System For The Twenty-First Century, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In December 1998, the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals issued a report and recommendations for Congress and the President. The commission resulted from ongoing controversy over splitting the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The commissioners clearly suggested that the circuit remain intact but proposed three regionally based adjudicative divisions for the appeals court. However, the commission did not adduce persuasive empirical evidence that the Ninth Circuit experiences difficulties that are sufficiently problematic to warrant treatment, particularly with the essentially untested divisional arrangement Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit should continue to experiment with promising …

The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines: A Surprising Success?, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

The author discusses whether the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines represent an advance in our nation's approach to criminal law or a step backward-a "dismal failure," as Judge Cabranes so bluntly asserted a few years ago. The authors goal is to convince you that the guidelines are in fact a surprising success, indeed that they represent a step forward in federal criminal justice.

Modern Federal Judicial Selection, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Review of Sheldon Goldman, Picking Federal Judges: Lower Court Selection From Roosevelt Through Reagan (1997).

Panel Rejects Ninth Circuit Split, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Choosing Perspectives In Criminal Procedure, Ronald J. Bacigal

Law Faculty Publications

In this Article, Professor Bacigal examines the Supreme Court's use of various perspectives in examining the reasonableness of searches and seizures. Although the Supreme Court purports to rely on a consistent method of constitutional analysis when rendering decisions on Fourth Amendment issues, the case law in this area indicates that the Court is influenced sometimes by the citizen's perspective, sometimes by the police officers' perspective, and sometimes by the perspective of the hypothesized reasonable person. After identifying the role of perspectives in a number of seminal Court decisions, Professor Bacigal discusses the benefits and limitations of the Court's reliance on …