Courts Commons^™

Wrongful Convictions And Punitiveness: Measuring Student's Attitudes On Erroneous Felony Convictions, Shayna Lancaster

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to better understand the attitudes towards wrongful convictions and levels of punitiveness among college students who may work in the criminal justice field in the future. It attempts to replicate Robert Ramsey and James Frank's 2007 study "Wrongful Conviction - Perceptions of Criminal Justice Professionals Regarding the Frequency of Wrongful Conviction and the Extent of System Errors." Instead of surveying criminal justice professionals, this study's sample is on-campus undergraduate classes in criminal justice and political science for the spring 2010 semester at Old Dominion University using a survey that operationalizes punitiveness with a series …

Supreme Court Of The United States, October Term 2011 Preview, Georgetown University Law Center, Supreme Court Institute

Supreme Court Overviews

No abstract provided.

Carter's Groundbreaking Appointment Of Women To The Federal Bench: His Other "Human Rights" Record, Mary L. Clark

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Pliva V. Mensing And Its Implications, Brian Wolfman, Dena Feldman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in PLIVA Inc. v. Mensing will immunize generic drug manufacturers facing failure-to-warn claims from state-law liability, and may also have implications for preemption jurisprudence more generally, says attorney Brian Wolfman and co-author Dena Feldman in this BNA Insight. The authors analyze the ruling, and offer their views on the questions that PLIVA raises about the ongoing vitality of the presumption against preemption, the standard for determining ‘‘impossibility’’ preemption, and the propriety of deference to an agency’s views on preemption.

Samantar V. Yousuf: Recent Developments In The Laws Governing Civil Torture Claims In U.S. Courts, Solomon B. Shinerock

Buffalo Human Rights Law Review

No abstract provided.

Statistical Criticism Of Jury Selection Methods In The Western District Of Oklahoma, R. Darcy, Brett M. Stingley

Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Collateral Review Of Career Offender Sentences: The Case For Coram Nobis, Douglas J. Bench Jr.

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Occasionally, criminals correctly interpret the law while courts err. Litigation pursuant to the federal Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) includes numerous examples. The ACCA imposes harsher sentences upon felons in possession of firearms with prior "violent felony" convictions. Over time, courts defined "violent" so contrary to its common meaning that it eventually came to encompass driving under the influence, unwanted touching, and the failure to report to correctional facilities. However, in a series of recent decisions, the Supreme Court has attempted to clarify the meaning of violent in the context of the ACCA and, in the process, excluded such offenses. …

Preventing Divisiveness: The Ninth Circuit Upholds The 1954 Pledge Amendment In Newdow V. Rio Linda Union School District, Devin Snow

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civil Procedure’S Five Big Ideas, Kevin M. Clermont

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Civil procedure, more than any other of the basic law-school courses, conveys to students an understanding of the whole legal system. I propose that this purpose should become more openly the organizing theme of the course. The focus should remain, of course, on the mechanics of the judicial branch. What I am championing is giving some conscious attention, albeit mainly in the background and at an introductory level, to the big ideas of the constitutional structure within which the law formulates civil procedure. Such attention would unify the doctrinal study, while enriching it for the students and revealing its true …

The Antislavery Judge Reconsidered, Jeffrey M. Schmitt

School of Law Faculty Publications

It is conventionally believed that neutral legal principles required antislavery judges to uphold proslavery legislation in spite of their moral convictions against slavery. Under this view, an antislavery judge who ruled on proslavery legislation was forced to choose, not between liberty and slavery, but rather between liberty and fidelity to his conception of the judicial role in a system of limited government. Focusing on the proslavery Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, this article challenges the conventional view by arguing that the constitutionality of the fugitive act was ambiguous; meaning that neutral legal principles supported a ruling against the fugitive act …

Chinese Judicial Culture: From Tradition To Modernity, Shen Deyong

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

Text of an address by the Hon. Justice Shen Deyong at the Brigham Young University Law School, October 21, 2009.

Self-Conscious Dicta: The Origins Of Roe V. Wade’S Trimester Framework, Randy Beck

Scholarly Works

One of the controversies arising from Roe v. Wade (1973), has concerned whether the conclusions undergirding the opinion's “trimester framework” should be considered part of the holding of the case, or instead classified as dicta. Different Supreme Court opinions have spoken to this question in different ways. This article reviews materials from the files of Justices who participated in Roe, seeking insight as to what the Court thought about the issue at the time. The article concludes that Justices in the Roe majority understood the opinion’s trimester framework to consist largely of dicta, unnecessary to a ruling on the constitutionality …

Vonnegut: Lessons For Law & Policy, Daniel E. Lazaroff

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article explores the profound influence of Kurt Vonnegut's literary work on legal thought and discourse, particularly in areas such as First Amendment rights, intellectual property, and the ethical implications of technology. Vonnegut's themes of equality, corporate power, and the horrors of war have not only shaped legal scholarship but also informed judicial decisions and public policy. His work continues to resonate in contemporary legal debates, offering timeless insights into pressing societal issues.

Islam In The Secular Nomos Of The European Court Of Human Rights, Peter G. Danchin

Michigan Journal of International Law

If, with the benefit of hindsight, Mr. Choudhury's case was a harbinger of the emergence of various problems associated with Islam and the rights of Muslim minorities in European nation-states, then the events of September 11, 2001 have propelled these issues to the forefront of law and politics in a way unimaginable even a decade earlier. In Denmark, cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a suicide bomber have been published leading to protests and violence across Europe and the Islamic world; a law prohibiting students in public schools from wearing symbols or attire through which they conspicuously exhibit a …

Not The Crime But The Cover-Up: A Deterrence-Based Rationale For The Premeditation-Deliberation Formula, Michael J. Zydney Mannheimer

Indiana Law Journal

Beginning with Pennsylvania in 1794, most American jurisdictions have, at one time or another, separated the crime of murder into two degrees based on the presence or absence of premeditation and deliberation. An intentional, premeditated, and deliberate murder is murder of the first degree, while second-degree murder is committed intentionally but without premeditation or deliberation. The distinction was created in order to limit the use of the death penalty, which generally has been imposed only for first-degree murder.

Critics have attacked the premeditation-deliberation formula on two fronts. First, they have charged that the formula is imprecise as a measure of …

The Kiyemba Paradox: Creating A Judicial Framework To Eradicate Indefinite, Unlawful Executive Detentions, Samuel Chow

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article examines the Supreme Court's evolving role in reviewing detentions related to national security, particularly focusing on the writ of habeas corpus. It argues that while the Court has expanded habeas protections, significant limitations remain, especially in ordering release into the United States. The author contends that for habeas to be meaningful, courts must have the authority to grant "functional release," balancing individual liberty against executive powers. The analysis highlights key cases like Boumediene v. Bush, Munaf v. Geren, and Kiyemba v. Obama, which reveal the challenges in preventing indefinite detentions and the need for clearer …

The Judiciary In Political Transitions: The Critical Role Of U.S. Constitutionalism In Latin America, Nuno Garoupa, Maria A. Maldonado

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

This paper proposes a theory that explains how political transitions deal with incumbent judiciaries. We argue that a new political regime compares the benefit of reshaping the judiciary with loyal appointees against the political and economic costs of directly interfering, including the cost of international reputation. There are several forms of interventionism including court packing, court purging, and violence against the judiciary. We discuss political transitions in Europe and Latin American civil law jurisdictions through the lens of our theory. We argue that American constitutional influence plays a critical role. In addition, we provide a detailed analysis of the recent …

Health Care: Why Jurisdiction Matters, Kevin C. Walsh

Law Faculty Publications

Congress’s enactment of comprehensive healthcare reform legislation last year was the culmination of one round of an intense debate that continues today. The second round began the same day that the first round ended, when President Obama signed the legislation. In this second round, the locus of debate has shifted from Congress to the courts, which are processing a slew of lawsuits filed immediately after enactment.

One of the most prominent is Virginia v. Sebelius. The lawsuit presents on its face a prominent and critically important question of federalism: Did Congress exceed the limits of its enumerated legislative powers by …

Changes To The Culture Of Adversarialness: Endorsing Candor, Cooperation And Civility In Relationships Between Prosecutors And Defense Counsel, Stacy Caplow, Lisa Griffin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Judicial Review Of Administrative Action: A Nineteenth Century Perspective, Jerry L. Mashaw

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Agency Independence After Pcaob, Kevin M. Stack

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Widening Batson's Net To Ensnare More Than The Unapologetically Bigoted Or Painfully Unimaginative Attorney, Jeffrey Bellin, Junichi P. Semitsu

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In Snyder v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its commitment to rooting out racially discriminatory jury selection and its belief that the three-step framework established in Batson v. Kentucky is capable of un- earthing racially discriminatory peremptory strikes. Yet the Court left in place the talismanic protection available to those who might misuse the peremptory challenge-the unbounded collection of justifications that courts, including the Supreme Court, accept as "race neutral." To evaluate the Court's continuing faith in Batson, we conducted a survey of all federal published and unpublished judicial decisions issued in this first decade of the new millennium (2000-2009) …

Outsourcing Incompetence: An Essay In Honor Of Paul Verkuil, Arthur J. Jacobson

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brief Amici Curiae Of Professor Eugene Volokh, National Council Of The Churches Of Christ In The Usa, Baptist Joint Committee For Religious Liberty, Queens Federation Of Churches, National Association Of Evangelicals, And Christian Legal Society In Support Of Petitioner, Richard W. Garnett, K. Hollyn Hollman, Melissa Rogers, Kimberlee Wood Colby, Thomas C. Berg, Carl H. Esbeck

Court Briefs

No. 10-553
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

From the Summary of Argument

This case is about the separation of church and state, an arrangement that is sometimes misunderstood and whose scope is debated, but which is nevertheless a critical dimension of the religious freedom reflected in, and protected by, the First Amendment to our Constitution. For nearly a thousand years, the tradition of Western constitutionalism and the project of protecting political freedom by marking boundaries to the power of …

Asymmetrical Jurisdiction, Matthew I. Hall

Scholarly Works

Most people — and most lawyers — would assume that the U.S. Supreme Court has jurisdiction to review any determination of federal law by an inferior court, whether state or federal. And there was a time when it was so. But the Court’s recent justiciability decisions have created a perplexing jurisdictional gap — a set of cases in which state court determinations of federal law are immune from the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction. The Court has thus surrendered a portion of its supremacy and thereby undermined the policies that underlie its appellate jurisdiction.

In an effort to address this problem, …

Judicial Reform, Constitutionalism And The Rule Of Law In Zambia: From A Justice System To A Just System, Muna Ndulo

Zambia Social Science Journal

In Zambia it is generally agreed on by all stakeholders that the judicial system needs reform to make it more accountable, independent, and able to deliver justice efficiently and effectively. This article discusses judicial reform in the context of the independence of the judiciary. It tries to unpack the term judicial reform. It argues that for the rule of law and constitutionalism to prevail it is crucial that the judiciary is independent and there is separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary, and legislature and the judiciary. For judges to be personally and substantively independent they need security …

The Roberts Court And Freedom Of Speech, Erwin Chemerinsky

Federal Communications Law Journal

This is an edited version of a speech delivered on December 16, 2010 in Washington, D.C., as part of the Federal Communications Bar Association's Distinguished Speaker Series.

This speech was given by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky in December 2010 as part of the FCBA's Distinguished Speaker Series. In the speech, Dean Chemerinsky offers his perspectives on and analysis of the Supreme Court's position on freedom of speech in recent years. He highlights important recent freedom of speech decisions made by the Roberts Court, and gives some projections as to where the court is heading in the years to come, given its …

Neuropsychiatry In The Courtroom, Richard L. Elliott

Mercer Law Review

This Symposium, "The Brain Sciences in the Courtroom," will make frequent reference to neuropsychiatry, neuroinaging, and brain science, and assumes a rudimentary understanding of neuroscience. While some readers have considerable experience in these areas, others might benefit from a brief introduction to key concepts in neuroscience, and to their applications in the courtroom from a historical perspective. In providing such an introduction, several points will become clear. For 200 years, lawyers, judges, and expert witnesses have struggled to understand how neuroscience can be helpful in the courtroom, with varying degrees of success. This is, in part, due to the fact …

Response To Reasonable Expectations In Sociocultural Context, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

The Article starts 6 (and ends)7 with the premise that contract law should enforce the reasonable expectations of the parties. This is a hard premise to challenge.8 And an even harder premise to apply.9 The Article recognizes the two problems with applying this premise: (1) how does a court decide what expectations are “reasonable,”10 and (2) what does a court do when the contracting parties have different reasonable expectations.11 The Article then uses two cases to illustrate how “sociocultural dissonance between a judge and contracting party”12 exacerbates these problems.

Has The Time (Of Laches) Come? Recent Nazi-Era Art Litigation In The New York Forum, Bert Demarsin

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.