Judges Commons^™

Pro Se Defendants And The Appointment Of Advisory Counsel, H. Patrick Furman

Publications

This article provides an overview of advisory counsel used to assist pro se criminal defendants, including the appointment and duties of advisory counsel, ethical obligations, and considerations for trial judges and prosecutors.

Smoke, Not Fire, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Who's Afraid Of Unenumerated Rights?, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Unenumerated rights are expressly protected against federal infringement by the original meaning of the Ninth Amendment and against state infringement by the original meaning of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Despite this textual recognition, unenumerated rights have received inconsistent and hesitant protection ever since these provisions were enacted, and what protection they do receive is subject to intense criticism. In this essay, the author examines why some are afraid to enforce unenumerated rights. While this reluctance seems most obviously to stem from the uncertainty of ascertaining the content of unenumerated rights, he contends that underlying this …

Competition And Market Failure In The Antitrust Jurisprudence Of Justice Stevens, Alan J. Meese

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rescuing Judicial Accountability From The Realm Of Political Rhetoric, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The article examines the threat to judicial independence from political calls for more judicial accountability. The author begins by defining judicial accountability and discussing its purposes before breaking the concept down into three categories: institutional accountability, behavioral accountability, and decisional accountability. This process reveals that in the judicial accountability family, there is but one discrete sub-species, situated in the decisional accountability genus, that does not further accountability's proper purpose and is therefore conceptually problematic: direct political accountability for competent and honest judicial decision-making error that the politicians desire and a serious threat to judicial independence. The critical question becomes one …

The Federal Income Tax Consequences Of The Bobble Supreme Phenomenon, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Since 2003, the Green Bag Journal has been commissioning and distributing limited edition bobblehead likenesses of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court. Demand for the bobble Supremes has not been limited to existing recipients, and bobble longing has inspired purchases and even poetry. Given the importance of the bobble Supreme phenomenon to the national economy, the time has come for guidance on the tax consequences of their receipt, ownership, and transfer. Fortunately, draft proposed regulations on the federal income tax treatment of bobble Supremes recently surfaced. Although the regulations have not and never will be officially sanctioned (and, …

Indecent Standards: The Case Of U.S. Versus Weldon Angelos, Eva Nilsen

Faculty Scholarship

In today's highly punitive culture, perhaps Weldon Angelos' fifty-five-year sentence does not seem unusual. He's a 25-year-old man who was convicted in December 2003 of selling marijuana, possessing firearms while drug dealing, and money laundering. ³ The facts proven at trial are that on three occasions in June and July, 2002, Angelos sold eight one-ounce bags of marijuana for $350 each to a government informant. ⁴ The purchaser testified that a firearm was visible during two of these drug sales.⁵ Police seized another gun from Angelos' home five months later pursuant to a warrant.⁶ At no time was …

Judicial Discretion To Condition, Thomas O. Main

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

"Reasonably Predictable:" The Reluctance To Embrace Judicial Discretion For Substantial Assistance Procedures, India Geronimo Thusi

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Comment focuses on the nuances of post-Booker cooperation departures and sentence variances. Section 5K1.1 of the Guidelines governs the provision of cooperation, or substantial assistance, departures. This provision was the primary method for defendants to receive cooperation departures prior to Booker. The section 5K1.1 provision allowed substantial assistance departures where the prosecution actually benefited from the defendant’s cooperation.

First, Part I.A of this Comment will provide an overview of the original goals of the Sentencing Commission and the section 5K1.1 substantial assistance provision. Part I.B of the Comment summarizes United States v. Booker and its impact on cooperation departures. …

Judges As "Amateur Scientists", David L. Faigman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The South African Judicial Appointments Process, Penelope Andrews

Articles & Chapters

Consideration of racial and gender diversity, and to a lesser extent disability and sexual orientation diversity, has propelled the transformation of the judiciary in South Africa. This consideration is underpinned by both the stated and unstated assumption that a majority white judiciary cannot adequately and fairly serve and deliver justice to a majority black population. The very legitimacy of the judiciary, and indeed the project of constitutional democracy, is contingent on a bench that reflects the racial and gender diversity of the society. Moreover, with equality as the primary principle in the "Bill of Rights," the judiciary has to accommodate …

Tribute To Justice Antonin Scalia, Nadine Strossen

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.