Courts Commons^™

The Court And The Changing Constitution: A Discussion, Carl Sividorski, James Gardner, Barry Latzer, Peter Galie

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unemployment Compensation For Employees Of Educational Institutions: How State Courts Have Created Variations On Federally Mandated Statutory Language, Maribeth Wilt-Seibert

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Abstract for a piece in the 1995 Unemployment Compensation: Continuity and Change symposium presented by the Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation and the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform.

The Romance Of Revenge: An Alternative History Of Jeffrey Dahmer's Trial, Samuel R. Gross

Articles

On Feb. 17, 1992, Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to fifteen consecutive terms of life imprisonment for killing and dismembering fifteen young men and boys. Dahmer had been arrested six months earlier, on July 22, 1991. On Jan. 13 he pled guilty to the fifteen murder counts against him, leaving open only the issue of his sanity. Jury selection began two weeks later, and the trial proper started on Jan. 30. The jury heard two weeks of horrifying testimony about murder, mutilation and necrophilia; they deliberated for five hours before finding that Dahmer was sane when he committed thos crimes. After …

Floodplain And Wetland Regulatory “Takings”, Jon A. Kusler

Regulatory Takings and Resources: What Are the Constitutional Limits? (Summer Conference, June 13-15)

4 pages.

Removal And The Eleventh Amendment: The Case For District Court Remand Discretion To Avoid A Bifurcated Suit, Mitchell N. Berman

Michigan Law Review

This Note concludes that the Sixth Circuit was half right: when a civil action names both state and private defendants - what this Note terms a "mixed case" - and when the claims against private defendants arise under federal law, the district court must grant removal of the case8 and must remand the claims against the state defendant. However, this Note also observes that the Fifth Circuit probably achieved the better result. After defendants have removed a mixed case to federal court and the district court has remanded the barred claims, the dual court systems and the parties will usually …

State Responses To Task Force Reports On Race And Ethnic Bias In The Courts, Suellyn Scarnecchia

Articles

While several states have embarked on studies of race and ethnic bias in their courts, Minnesota is only the sixth to publish its report to date. As Minnesota joins the ranks of states with published reports, it is worthwhile to assess the impact of the five earlier published reports from other states. Final reports have been published in Michigan (1989), Washington (1990), New York (1991), Florida (1991) and New Jersey (1992). The published reports make findings and provide several specific recommendations for change. This article will review the published findings and recommendations of the task forces and will discuss the …

The Hazelwood Hazard: Litigating And Legislating In The State Domain When Federal Avenues Are Closed, Alexander Wohl

St. Thomas Law Review

The focus of this article is to move the awareness of the ability to expand individual rights in the state domain one step further, into the legislative arena; to examine efforts to overcome judicial restrictions under the United States Constitution not simply through an increased use of state judicial remedies but, in instances where that option may fall short or may not be the best alternative, through action in the individual state legislatures. As a means of studying this procedure, this article will focus on a particular Supreme Court decision that limited a previously existing right under the Bill of …

The Judge As Political Candidate, Hans A. Linde

Cleveland State Law Review

Judges are expected to satisfy two conflicting ideals. First, they are to follow the law without fear or favor, regardless of personal sympathies and preferences, to "adjudicate" rather than to "legislate." Second, they are to reach results that are preferred by or at least acceptable to their communities. The first ideal requires judicial independence and job security. Elective judgeships are sometimes defended as serving the second. We have gone through a third public examination of a Supreme Court nominee in which the Senate and the public considered it important to question the nominee about his views of the major issues …

Agenda: Innovation In Western Water Law And Management, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Innovation in Western Water Law and Management (Summer Conference, June 5-7)

Conference organizers and/or faculty included University of Colorado School of Law professors Lawrence J. MacDonnell, David H. Getches, Charles F. Wilkinson and Richard B. Collins.

Pressures of population, drought, and changing water use have provided the impetus for numerous innovations in water law and management in recent years. The Center's annual conference June 5-7, 1991, will look at innovation and change in five areas--water planning, special water management areas, negotiated settlements of tribal water rights, conjunctive use of ground and surface water, and public values in water decision making. Each session will begin with talks by experts from several western …

Errors In Good Faith: The Leon Exception Six Years Later, David Clark Esseks

Michigan Law Review

Given this vast literature on the good faith exception, little room appears to exist for additional commentary on the propriety of the decision, its theoretical weaknesses or strengths, or what further changes in constitutional criminal procedure it forebodes. This Note will not add to the many voices complaining of the Court's misconstrual of the grounding of the exclusionary rule, nor of its crabbed notion of deterrence. Instead, it accepts, arguendo, the propriety of the exception and its underlying purpose, and then examines the six-year experience with the revised rule. The proliferation of reported applications of the good faith exception …

Sources Of Water Iv: Tribal Water Rights, John E. Echohawk

Moving the West's Water to New Uses: Winners and Losers (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

10 pages.

Contains references.

Federal Habeas Corpus Review Of State Judgments, Department Of Justice Office Of Legal Policy

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Report carries out a review of the historical development of the federal habeas corpus jurisdiction; examines its contemporary character and operation; and discusses relevant policy considerations. The Report concludes that federal habeas corpus as a post-conviction remedy for state prisoners should be abolished or limited as far as possible. The limited reform proposals that were passed by the Senate in 1984 and that are currently before Congress as Title II of the proposed Criminal Justice Reform Act provide the best immediate prospect for improvement.

Federal Court Review Of Arbitrary State Court Decisions, David T. Azrin

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Note argues that the Thompson, Logan, and Hicks cases can be read narrowly to deal primarily with concern about protecting specific constitutional guarantees such as criminal procedural protections, equal protection guarantees, and first amendment freedoms. Arguably, in order to avoid dealing explicitly with the broader constitutional questions raised by the state decisions, the Court reversed the state decisions as arbitrary interpretations of state law. Part II argues that the rule against arbitrary state decisions suggested by Thompson, Logan, and Hicks is incompatible with federalism because it interferes with states' ability to develop law over state …

The Effectiveness Of Measures To Increase Appellate Court Efficiency And Decision Output, Thomas B. Marvell, Carlisle E. Moody

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article will examine the effectiveness of measures commonly employed to increase appellate court productivity. Part I of the Article sets forth some common design problems and explains how the research technique employed in the present study avoids these problems by using a multiple time-series research design. Part II applies this design to state court data. Part II also describes the dependent variable, the number of appeals decided per judge, used in the regression analysis. Part III discusses the results of that analysis-the impact of each change listed above on judicial productivity. The Article, although not advocating the adoption of …

Are State Courts Enforcing The Fourth Amendment? A Preliminary Study, Craig M. Bradley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Change In The Availability Of Federal Habeas Corpus: Its Significance For State Prisoners And State Correctional Programs, Franklin J. Remington

Michigan Law Review

Expressions of dissatisfaction with state prisoner use of federal writs of habeas corpus continue. Recently Attorney General Meese was reported as telling the Judicial Conference of the Seventh Circuit: "[M]ost of the writs filed today were frivolous 'recreational activities' [by inmates whom he referred to as 'lawyers in penitentiaries'] designed to harass federal authorities." Referring to the Reagan administration's proposal pending in the United States Senate to restrict habeas corpus, Mr. Meese said the bill "would preserve the great writ for appropriate cases."

Repeated, but as yet unsuccessful, efforts have been made in the Congress to narrow the scope of …

State Constitutional Law: Federalism In The Common Law Tradition, Ellen A. Peters

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Developments in State Constitutional Law edited by Bradley D. McGraw

The State Of New York's State Federal-Judicial Council, Hon. George C. Pratt

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Child Custody - Jurisdiction And Procedure, Christopher L. Blakesley

Scholarly Works

Custody determinations traditionally have comprised a subcategory of litigation under the Pennoyer v. Neff exception for proceedings relating to status. Of course, states have the power to decide the status of their domiciliaries. It was natural, therefore, for the courts and scholars of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to consider domicile the sole basis of jurisdiction in custody matters. Gradually, judges and scholars began to challenge the notion that domicile was the sole basis and courts began to apply other bases, such as the child's presence in the state or personal jurisdiction over both parents. One commentator suggests that …

The Struggle For Judicial Independence In Antebellum North Carolina: The Story Of Two Judges, Walter F. Pratt

Journal Articles

The Supreme Court of North Carolina is an anomaly among state courts in the antebellum years. In a period dominated by democratic reforms of state government, the court did not merely survive unscathed it actually increased its independence. The remarkable success of this court is largely attributable to the personal reputations and political acumen of two of its judges, Thomas Ruffin and William Gaston. Without those two men it is likely that the Supreme Court would have been abolished in a wave of democratic reforms that peaked in North Carolina with the constitutional amendments of 1835.

Cameras In The Courtroom: Guidelines For State Criminal Trials, Nancy T. Gardner

Michigan Law Review

This Note analyzes the conflicting interests involved in televising state criminal trials and proposes a model set of guidelines for consideration by states that decide to permit electronic media in their courtrooms. The Note favors restrictions on broadcasters once in the courtroom and advocates that the defendant's right to a fair trial receive more scrupulous protection than the broadcast media's interest in attendance and the public's "right to know." Part I presents the constitutional principles with which any set of guidelines must comply. Part II analyzes the policy considerations that should guide the formulation of state guidelines, and concludes that …

On The Threshold Of Wainwright V Sykes: Federal Habeas Court Scrutiny Of State Procedural Rules And Rulings, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines specific problems which stand on the threshold of Wainwright v. Sykes. Resolution of these problems is necessary to determine whether a state ruling is based upon an adequate state procedural ground, requiring application of the cause-and-prejudice test before habeas review will be permitted. Part I analyzes the rationale for the rule of Wainwright v. Sykes as well as its historical underpinnings. Part II examines the treatment of state court decisions that are based both on a defaulted claim and, in the alternative, on the merits of that claim. This Part concludes that decisions containing such alternative …

Agenda: The Federal Impact On State Water Rights, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

The Federal Impact on State Water Rights (Summer Conference, June 11-13)

Conference organizers and/or speakers included University of Colorado School of Law professors James N. Corbridge, Jr., David H. Getches, Lawrence J. MacDonnell and Richard B. Collins.

In general, water rights are a matter of state law. However, the availability and development of water are affected by important federal rights, policies and programs. In this conference, an outstanding group of private practitioners, government representatives and academics consider this important topic.

Habeas Corpus Review Of State Trial Court Failure To Give Lesser Included Offense Instructions, Michael H. Hoffheimer

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note advocates that federal courts review state criminal convictions in habeas corpus proceedings when lesser included offense instructions are available under state law but were not given. Part I demonstrates that granting such review conforms to the modern jurisdictional scope of federal collateral review because failure to give the instructions undermines the fact-finding function of juries and is therefore unconstitutional. Part II analyzes the proper standard of review and determines that the federal interest in protecting the reliability of the fact-finding process should prevail over any conflicting state interest in refusing to give lesser included offense instructions. Part II …

Colorado's Answer To The Local Rules Problem, William H. Erickson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines the checkered history of local rules in the state and federal courts. Part I sketches the development of local rule-making power. Part II focuses on the abuses that have resulted from a nonuniform procedural system. It concludes that the most serious consequence of that abuse - an increase in court costs and delay - has not been addressed adequately by the courts. Part III explores ways in which the local rules problem can be brought under control. Although a number of proposals are discussed, the purpose of this section is to present the approach recently undertaken by …

Appellate Caseload: Meeting The Challenge In Rhode Island, Joseph R. Weisberger

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Two of the most challenging and frustrating problems facing appellate courts in America are increasingly congested dockets and the sluggish pace of litigation. In an effort to combat these problems, the Supreme Court of Rhode Island has recently initiated several procedural techniques for screening and settling criminal and civil cases on appeal. These techniques have proven highly effective and should provide other appellate courts at least a partial answer to the burgeoning appellate caseload.

The Organized Bar: A Catalyst For Court Reform, Paul R.J. Connolly

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article theorizes that state and local bar associations can play a vital role in ridding their courts of excessive costs and delay. Theory can become practice, however, only if state and local bars are reorganized to broaden their oversight and lobbying functions, in order to make them more effective vehicles of reform. This Article, then, discusses the role the organized bar can and should play in achieving procedural reform that will reduce the delay and cost of litigation. Part I describes the various stages of the reform process, using the Kentucky experiment as a model, and outlines the contributions …

The Emergence Of A General Reformation Doctrine For Wills, Lawrence W. Waggoner, John H. Langbein

Articles

In this article, which both summarizes and updates an extensively footnoted article published last year ("Reformation of Wills on the Ground of Mistake: Change of Direction in American Law?" 130 University of Pennsylvania Law Rmiew 521 (1982)), we report on this new case law and discuss the analytic framework that we think it suggests and requires.

The War On Diversity, John W. Reed

Other Publications

Over the past decade or more there have been strong pressures to abolish the diversity jurisdiction of the federal courts. With the strong backing of the prestigious American Law Institute and many scholars, and with the support of the Chief Justice, Senator Kennedy, and others, specific proposals have been introduced in Congress, have been discussed at enormous length, and have passed one or the other House but not both. At the moment, therefore, we still have diversity jurisdiction, and it is safe to predict that abolition of diversity will not occur during the present session of Congress. Nevertheless, the long-term …

American Trial Judges, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of American Trial Judges by John Paul Ryan, Allan Ashman, Bruce D. Sales, and Sandra Shane-DuBow