Courts Commons^™

Daubert & Danger: The "Fit" Of Expert Predictions In Civil Commitments, Alex Scherr

Scholarly Works

The opinions of experts in prediction in civil commitment hearings should help the courts, but over thirty years of commentary, judicial opinion, and scientific review argue that predictions of danger lack scientific rigor. The United States Supreme Court has commented regularly on the uncertainty of predictive science. The American Psychiatric Association has argued to the Court that "[t]he professional literature uniformly establishes that such predictions are fundamentally of very low reliability." Scientific studies indicate that some predictions do little better than chance or lay speculation, and even the best predictions leave substantial room for error about individual cases. The sharpest …

Trial Of The Accused Taliban And Al Qaeda Operatives Captured In Afghanistan And Detained On A U.S. Military Base In Cuba, Jaime Jackson

ExpressO

A timely piece proposing solutions for issues certain to be raised in the upcoming trials of the accused Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives captured in Afghanistan and detained on a U.S. military base in Cuba. In the article, I begin by examining the history and jurisdiction of Article I and Article III courts and then address the history and structure of the Al Qaeda and Taliban regimes. After considering the Constitution, federal statutes, politics, and geographical limitations, I conclude that Al Qaeda detainees should be tried in Article III courts under terrorism statutes and Taliban detainees, as military combatants, should …

Us V. Pimentel, 346 F. 3d 285 - Court Of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 2003, Roger J. Miner '56

Circuit Court Opinions

These appeals arise from the January 9, 1995 gang-related murder of Galiat Santiago. Instead of being tried in New York State Supreme Court for violating the New York Penal Law, defendants-appellants Joanna Pimentel and George Viruet (collectively, the "Defendants") were tried by a jury and convicted in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Johnson, J.). The Defendants were charged with violations of various federal laws, including the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering ("VCAR") statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1959. VCAR provides for the federal prosecution of violent crime "when those allegedly responsible participated …

The Oral Judgment Practice In The Canadian Appellate Courts, J. E. Côté

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Words To The Wise: David C. Frederick's Supreme Court And Appellate Advocacy, Mark R. Kravitz

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

No-Citation Rules Under Siege: A Battlefield Report And Analysis, Stephen R. Barnett

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Fundamentals Of Preparing A United States Supreme Court Amicus Brief, Dan Schweitzer

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Assessing Judgeship Needs In The Federal Courts Of Appeals: Policy Choices And Process Concerns, Arthur D. Hellman

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Appellate Mediation In Pennsylvania: Looking Back At The History And Forward To The Future, Sandra Schultz Newman, Scott E. Friedman

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

An Autopsy Of The Structural Reform Injunction: Oops ... It's Still Moving, Myriam E. Gilles

Articles

No abstract provided.

Federal Court Authority To Regulate Lawyers: A Practice In Search Of A Theory Of A, Fred C. Zacharias, Bruce A. Green

Vanderbilt Law Review

Federal courts regulate lawyers, including federal prosecutors, by enforcing various constitutional, statutory, and other legal constraints. Federal courts also adopt and enforce their own disciplinary rules pursuant to rule-making authority delegated by Congress. To what extent, however, do federal courts have independent power, in the absence of an explicit grant of authority, to regulate private lawyers and federal prosecutors? Although lower federal courts have long exercised power both to define and to sanction professional misconduct, the United States Supreme Court has never clarified the source and scope of this authority.

This issue is important for two reasons. First, most federal …

Symposium Editor's Note, Barbara A. Babb

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Delinquency Jurisdiction In A Unified Family Court: Balancing Intervention, Prevention, And Adjudication, Gloria Danziger

All Faculty Scholarship

This article will examine the demographics of the current juvenile delinquency caseloads and will argue that, despite trends toward greater punitive measures-including placement of juveniles in adult courts for certain offenses, the concept of a therapeutic "family-centered court," which inspired Jane Addams and her colleagues, remains the most promising approach to delinquency, articulated most notably by the proponents of the unified family court concept. The article will consider and address objections and concerns raised with respect to this approach, looking at ways in which several states have incorporated juvenile delinquency into a family-centered unified family court.

The Supreme Court's Labor And Employment Decisions: 2002-2003 Term, Maria O'Brien

Faculty Scholarship

This article summarizes U.S. Supreme Court cases from the October 2002 term that related directly or indirectly to labor or employment law or have implications for labor and employment practitioners. Of particular interest are the University of Michigan affirmative action cases' and the Texas criminal sodomy case. ² Although not nominally "labor and employment" cases, these cases will profoundly affect labor and employment issues. Lawrence v. Texas has already altered the lenses through which society views homosexuality and altered public discourse related to homosexuality and same-sex relationships. ³ The reasoning of the Court shows how far issues of sexuality have …

Effects Of Race And Prosecutor's Perceptions Of Victim's Behaviors On Domestic Violence Case Outcomes, Angel K. Williams

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of race and prosecutor's perceptions of victim's behavior on domestic violence case outcomes. This research utilizes data collected by Belknap and Graham (2000) in a large Midwestern Urban area during 1997-1998. Past literature supports the predictions that race and victim's behaviors affect case outcomes. However, there are no studies that examine either race and victim's behavior or the connection between them.

Analyses revealed that victim's race is not significantly related to case outcome. Perceptions of victim's behavior, however, were significantly related to case outcomes. Additionally, prosecutor's race and level of …

Brief Of Amici Curiae The Becket Fund For Religious Liberty, The Catholic League For Religious And Civil Rights, And Historians And Legal Scholars In Support Of Respondent, Richard W. Garnett, Kevin J. Hasson, Roman P. Storzer, Anthony R. Picarello Jr., Gerard V. Bradley

Court Briefs

No. 02-1315
Gary Locke v. Joshua Davey

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

From the Summary of the Argument

The Washington State law at issue in this case disqualifies a student from an otherwise available government benefit, only because the student would use the benefit for a religious purpose. That is the core constitutional offense identified by the court below, and this Court may affirm on that basis alone.

Section 1446(B) Federal Removal Jurisdiction And The Thirty-Day Clock: Should A Motion To Amend Trigger The Time Bomb?, Briant S. Platt

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

In The Stream Of The Commerce Clause: Revisiting Asahi In The Wake Of Lopez And Morrison, Andrew Kurvers Spalding

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Problem-Solving Courts: From Innovation To Institutionalization, Michael C. Dorf, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Compounding The Countermajoritarian Difficulty Through "Plaintiff's Diplomacy": Can The International Criminal Court Provide A Solution?, John B. Fowles

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

No Free Lunch: How Settlement Can Reduce The Legal System's Ability To Induce Efficient Behavior, Abraham Lee Wickelgren

ExpressO

While there is widespread agreement that it is better for cases to settle than go to trial, the arguments in favor of settlement have typically overlooked how settlement affects one of the most important functions of the legal system: influencing the behavior that gives rise to lawsuits. This essay argues that, in some cases, settlement can impair the ability of the legal system to deter harmful behavior without chilling desirable behavior. Where it exists, this effect is a fundamental property of settlement in that there is no way to change other legal rules to eliminate it. Because settlements also have …

Letter To Clerk Of Court Re: Benjamin Hunter, Roger J. Miner '56

Memos and Letters: Law Clerks

No abstract provided.

Opening Statement -- Making It Stick, Ronald L. Carlson, Michael S. Carlson

Popular Media

Every lawyer who sits down to plan her opening remarks for a coming trial has the same question: How far can I go in arguing my case during the opening statement? Can I mention the law? What about drawing a diagram of the accident on a blackboard? Will my opponent be able to stop me from displaying a couple of my dramatic exhibits to the jury?

Making one's theory of the case "stick" from the very start of the trial depends mightly on how far the lawyer can go in opening statement. Where the defense is primarily a legal or …

The Irrepressible Myth Of Marbury, Michael Stokes Paulsen

Michigan Law Review

Nearly all of American constitutional law today rests on a myth. The myth, presented as standard history both in junior high civics texts and in advanced law school courses on constitutional law, runs something like this: A long, long time ago - 1803, if the storyteller is trying to be precise - in the famous case of Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States created the doctrine of "judicial review." Judicial review is the power of the Supreme Court to decide the meaning of the Constitution and to strike down laws that the Court finds unconstitutional. As …

Censorship, Repression Or Denial?: Unpacking The Symptom Of People V. Wu, Penelope Pether

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judging The Next Emergency: Judicial Review And Individual Rights In Times Of Crisis, David Cole

Michigan Law Review

As virtually every law student who studies Marbury v. Madison learns, Chief Justice John Marshall's tactical genius was to establish judicial review in a case where the result could not be challenged. As a technical matter, Marbury lost, and the executive branch won. As furious as President Jefferson reportedly was with the decision, there was nothing he could do about it, for there was no mandate to defy. The Court's decision offered no remedy for Marbury himself, whose rights were directly at issue, and whose rights the Court found had indeed been violated. But over time, it became clear that …

Legislating Chevron, Elizabeth Garrett

Michigan Law Review

One of the most significant administrative law cases, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, lnc., is routinely referred to as the "counter-Marbury." The reference suggests that Chevron's command to courts to defer to certain reasonable agency interpretations of statutes is superficially an uneasy fit with the declaration in Marbury v. Madison that "[i]t is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." According to the consensus view, Chevron deference is consistent with Marbury, as long as Congress has delegated to agencies the power to make policy by interpreting ambiguous statutory language or filling …

Alternative Forms Of Judicial Review, Mark Tushnet

Michigan Law Review

The invention in the late twentieth century of what I call weak-form systems of judicial review provides us with the chance to see in a new light some traditional debates within U.S. constitutional law and theory, which are predicated on the fact that the United States has strong-form judicial review. Strong- and weak-form systems operate on the level of constitutional design, in the sense that their characteristics are specified in constitutional documents or in deep-rooted constitutional traditions. After sketching the differences between strong- and weak-form systems, I turn to design features that operate at the next lower level. Here legislatures …

Comparative Constitutionalism In A New Key, Paul W. Kahn

Michigan Law Review

Law is a symbolic system that structures the political imagination. The "rule of law" is a shorthand expression for a cultural practice that constructs a particular understanding of time and space, of subjects and groups, as well as of authority and legitimacy. It is a way of projecting, maintaining, and discovering meaning in the world of historical events and political possibilities. The rule of law - as opposed to the techniques of lawyering - is not the possession of lawyers. It is a characterization of the polity, which operates both descriptively and normatively in public perception. Ours, we believe, is …

Reconcilable Differences: The Supreme Court Should Allow The Marriage Of Brady And Plea Bargaining, Andrew P. O'Brien

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.