Judges Commons^™

Edmund Pendleton, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

Judge Edmund Pendleton, was the head of the Virginia judiciary from its professionalization upon independence from Great Britain until his death. It was in his court and under his eye that John Marshall, Bushrod Washington, St. George Tucker, Spencer Roane, and the other lawyers of the first period of republican Virginia refined their legal skills. His steady example influenced in one way or another a remarkable generation of lawyers and judges.

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.

Judge Procter Hug, Jr. And Good Judgment, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Tribute to Judge Procter R. Hug, Jr. upon assuming Senior Status as a United Circuit Judge.

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).

The Ermine And Woolsack: Disciplinary Proceedings Involving Judges, Attorney-Magistrates, And Other Judicial Figures, David R. Cleveland, Jason Masimore

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Playing On Words: Judge Richard A. Posner's Appellate Opinions, 1981-82--Ruminations On Sexy Judicial Opinion Style During An Extraordinary Rookie Season, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Meaning: Law Dictionaries And The Liberal Tradition Of Interpretation, Gary L. Mcdowell

Law Faculty Publications

At least since John Cowell's Interpreter was adjudged by the Committee on Grievances of the House of Commons in 1610 to be "very unadvised, and undiscreet, tending to the disreputation of the honour and power of the common laws" have law dictionaries been objects of occasional controversy. Yet legal dictionaries, as well as dictionaries more generally, have remained a constant resource in American law for those seeking to give meaning to the words of both statutes and constitutional provisions. They have appeared in the pages of the reports since the beginning of the republic; a majority of the justices of …

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).

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.

Federal Judicial Selection In A Time Of Divided Government,, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Congress has authorized 179 active judges for the United States Courts of Appeals and 649 active judges for the United States District Courts. Eighty-two judgeships are now vacant, although the size and complexity of federal caseloads continue to increase. More than thirty openings are considered "judicial emergencies" because they have remained unfilled for eighteen months. The Ninth Circuit, which must resolve the largest docket of the twelve regional appellate courts, currently has nine vacancies on a circuit with twenty eight active judges and for which the Judicial Conference has recommended the creation of nine additional judgeships. The Speedy Trial Act's …

George Landon Browning (D. 1947), William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

Encyclopedia entry on George Landon Browning judge of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Dear President Clinton, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias offers advice on judicial selection philosophy for the newly reelected President Bill Clinton.

Magistrate Judges In The Montana Federal District, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Over the last three decades, growing caseloads and finite resources have fostered expansion of the jurisdiction, responsibilities, prestige and compensation of United States Magistrate Judges. Passage of the Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA) of 1990, which required local experimentation with procedures for reducing expense and delay in civil litigation, propelled this development in many of the ninety-four federal districts across the country. The United States District Court for the District of Montana has quite strongly evidenced these phenomena. Perhaps most important, the CJRA expense and delay reduction plan that the district prescribed in 1991 included an opt-out procedure which it …

New Certiorari And A National Study Of The Appeals Courts, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Elitism, Expediency, and the New Certiorari: Requiem for the Learned Hand Tradition is a thought-provoking critique of the United States Courts of Appeals. Professors William Richman and William Reynolds maintain that dramatic increases in appellate filings have transformed the appeals courts during the last quarter-century, prompting systemic constriction of procedural opportunities, particularly for parties with few resources or little power. The authors find these changes profoundly troubling and propose that Congress radically expand the number of appellate judges.

Individuals and institutions, such as expert study committees, which have analyzed the federal courts, agree with much of the authors' descriptive assessment. …

Judge William W. Schwarzer And Automatic Disclosure, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Tribute to Senior United States District Judge William W. Schwarzer upon his retirement as Director of the Federal Judicial Center.

Increasing Balance On The Federal Bench, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In President Bill Clinton's first year of service, he nominated unprecedented numbers and percentages of highly qualified women and minorities to the federal judiciary. The Clinton Administration correspondingly employed an effective process for choosing potential jurists that generated relatively little controversy.

Some wondered whether President Clinton could improve his first year judicial selection record during his second year in office, especially given the number of international conflicts and pressing domestic matters that faced the Administration. These complications threatened to deflect the Administration's attention from naming judges.

Now that the 103d Congress has adjourned and President Clinton has reached mid-term, the …

Dear Judge Mikva, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

I am writing to urge that you apply in the executive branch the considerable expertise which you attained and honed over a lifetime of service in the legislative and judicial branches of our tripartite system of government, to the critical task of federal judicial selection that uniquely partakes of those coordinate branches.

The D.C. Circuit As A National Court, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Every President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has appointed lawyers from across the country to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ("D.C. Circuit") and has been accused of ignoring the members of the D.C. Bar. The tradition of nationwide recruitment for appointment to the D.C. Circuit has served the District and the nation well, yielding some of the court's and America's finest judges.

The practice of seeking nominees nationally to fill vacancies on the D.C. Circuit recently faced a serious challenge. Many members of the D.C. Bar, who have long opposed this practice, developed a …

The Gender Gap On The Montana State Bench, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Governor Racicot should expeditiously and forcefully act to remedy the gender gap on the state courts for many reasons. First, there is a significant, highly qualified, pool of female attorneys in Montana who could render excellent judicial service. Numerous women have participated in the types of rigorous legal practices which would prepare them well for the bench. These female lawyers are intelligent, industrious, and independent, while they have exhibited the kind of impeccable integrity and appropriately measured judicial temperament to be fine judges. Some of the attorneys have engaged in challenging public law practices, others have been involved in rigorous …

President Clinton's Covenant And The Federal Courts, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

President Bill Clinton has eloquently invoked the concept of a new covenant with the American people. Claiming that the populace elected him with a mandate for change, the President has appointed individuals to high-level positions, particularly in the Cabinet, who have made the new government look like America. In no branch of the federal government are these ideas more apposite than the Third Branch.

Rethinking Federal Judicial Selection, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The inauguration of President Bill Clinton, who will appoint more than three hundred new federal judges, affords an auspicious occasion for rethinking the process of federal judicial selection. The current federal bench, two-thirds of whose members were appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, reflects increased conservatism and is quite homogeneous in terms of race, gender, and political perspectives. For instance, President Reagan appointed a dramatically smaller, and President Bush named a substantially lower, percentage of African-Americans than did President Jimmy Carter. The Republican chief executives made these appointments although they had much larger, more experienced, pools of female …

Keeping The Covenant On The Federal Courts, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

When Governor Clinton was campaigning for the presidency, he contended that the federal court appointments of President Ronald Reagan and President George Bush significantly reduced the diversity that President Jimmy Carter had strongly promoted. Candidate Clinton pledged, if elected President, to rectify that situation. Since the election, Bill Clinton has fulfilled his promise by naming to the judiciary outstanding attorneys who reflect the diverse composition of American society. Now that President Clinton has completed his initial year of service, it is important to analyze the Clinton Administration's record of choosing judges to ascertain precisely how the President has kept his …

Closing The Gender Gap On The Federal Courts, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

When the Bush Administration placed comparatively few women on the bench during its initial half-term, I criticized President Bush's mediocre record. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Bush Administration ultimately appointed an unprecedented percentage of women to the federal courts; 36 of the 192 judges President Bush appointed were women (18.7%).

Notwithstanding the Bush Administration's efforts, the percentage of female judges remains significantly lower than the representation of women in the legal profession. Moreover, President Bush left 100 open judgeships. These vacancies mean that President Bill Clinton can greatly increase the numbers and percentages of female judges and …

The President And The Federal Bench, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias assesses the efforts of the George H.W. Bush Administration in appointing women and African-Americans to the federal bench.

Making Judicial Nominees Answer Senate Questions, John Paul Jones

Law Faculty Publications

Prof. Jones discusses the congressional powers to conduct investigations and compel answers from individuals versus the prospective judge's interest in impartiality in the of judicial nomination hearings.

More Women Named Federal Judges, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The essay initially assesses information pertinent to President Bush's record of appointments to the federal bench during his first three years in office. The prospects for future appointment of women are explored next. Finding these prospects inconclusive, this essay suggests that President Bush continue employing the constructive measures initiated during his administration's third year to name additional women while seriously considering the possibility of instituting even more vigorous efforts to appoint women in the future. Finally, the essay examines why greater numbers of women should be placed on the federal courts and how that goal can be attained.

Judicial Discretion And The 1983 Amendments To The Federal Civil Rules, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The first section of this Article briefly describes the developments which created the perception that the federal courts were experiencing a litigation explosion and which ultimately led to the promulgation of the 1983 amendments as one response to the perceived explosion. It also examines the substantive content of those changes, especially how the revisions enlarged federal judicial discretion. The second section evaluates the courts' implementation of the 1983 amendments and finds that this application has adversely affected numerous litigants, particularly civil rights plaintiffs, while providing some benefits, namely fostering more expeditious dispute resolution.

The third section provides suggestions for the …

The Theory And Practice Of Defending Judges Against Unjust Criticism, Ronald J. Bacigal

Law Faculty Publications

Having set forth the above premise and conclusion, the American Bar Association Subcommittee on Unjust Criticism of the Bench promulgated a model program for bar associations to follow when countering inaccurate or unjust criticism of judges. This article presents no quarrel with the model program but instead seeks to relate the model to an empirical account of how it might operate in practice. It must be remembered that the acid test of a theoretical model is not whether the theory is "true" in a purely academic sense but whether the model is useful in describing the "real world. " In …

The Gender Gap On The Federal Bench, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

This Commentary evaluates President George H.W. Bush's lackluster record of appointing women to the federal courts. The Commentary initially examines the relevant data on female judicial appointments and assesses why the Bush Administration has placed few women on the bench. It next recommends that President Bush name substantially more women in 1991 and 1992 and explores why and how this endeavor should be instituted. The Commentary then analyzes what the Bush Administration is likely to do about the paucity of female appointees. Because it is not clear that President Bush will place very many women on the federal courts, the …

The Federal Judiciary Engendered, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The dearth of women named to cabinet level positions in the George H.W. Bush Administration does not augur well for appointment of women to the federal bench. Equally discouraging was Mr. Bush's campaign response to the question whether there should be special efforts to select more women for the federal judiciary: "[I] remain committed to appointing to the bench the best qualified candidates we can find-regardless of ... gender--and the record shows that we have been successful in fulfilling this commitment. " The record compiled by the Administration in which he served as Vice-President for two terms was deplorable.

To …