Judges Commons^™

Governing By Network: The Answer To Pound's Unanticipated Dissatisfaction, Stephen Goldsmith

Indiana Law Journal

Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators Annual Meeting July 29-August 2, 2006 Indianapolis, Indiana.

Popular Dissatisfaction With Judicial Restraint-Do Americans Really Want An Independent Judiciary?, Michael S. Greco

Indiana Law Journal

Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators Annual Meeting July 29-August 2, 2006 Indianapolis, Indiana.

Nebraska Probation Revocation: A Primer (2007 Revision), Alan G. Gless

State of Nebraska Judicial Branch

The law of probation revocation developed rapidly over the eighteen years preceding this article’s 1989 appearance. While its development has slowed substantially since then, it continues to evolve. The overall field of Nebraska probation revocation remains essentially unchanged from the way it was in 1989 when this article first appeared. The case law has neither burgeoned dramatically nor altered the scenery in major ways, although, it has added a few refinements. But important procedural and substantive wrinkles have appeared through 2003 statutory amendments to the steps probation officers must take in responding to probationers’ violations of the conditions of their …

Circumventing Daubert In The Gene Pool, Erica Beecher-Monas

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

What Makes A Good Appointive System For The Selection Of State Court Judges: The Vision Of The Symposium, Norman L. Greene

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article contains two parts. First, it sets forth the context of the symposium, including reflections on how judges are being selected now through the elective process, the need for a better approach to judicial selection, and the particular climate in New York at the time of the symposium and thereafter. The New York discussion will focus on the district court and Second Circuit decisions in Lopez Torres v. New York State Board of Elections, which exposed and struck down as unconstitutional New York’s scheme for selecting certain trial court judges, under which political party leaders dictated judicial selection. Second, …

Beyond Quality: First Principles In Judicial Selection And Their Application To A Commission-Based Selection System, Jeffrey D. Jackson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article discusses the principles that the judicial system should advance in the selection of its judges. In addition to judicial quality, there are five other “first principles” that should be advanced in an optimal selection system: independence, accountability, representativeness, legitimacy, and transparency.

How The Pickers Pick: Finding A Set Of Best Practices For Judicial Nominating Commissions, Rachel Paine Caufield

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article discusses the history and development of judicial selection in the states. It examines the 'merit selection' system of judicial appointment and the role of nominating commissions. The article concludes with a section of recommendations for the best practices that should be formally written down and adopted by nominating commissions.

Rethinking Judicial Selection: A Critical Appraisal Of Appointive Selection For State Court Judges, John D. Feerick

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Transcript of the keynote address delivered at Fordham University School of law on April 7, 2006. The speaker discusses the various shortcomings in the judicial selection methodology in New York State and what he and others have thought of as solutions for the problems.

A View From The Ground: A Reform Group’S Perspective On The Ongoing Effort To Achieve Merit Selection Of Judges, Shira J. Goodman, Lynn A. Marks

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article describes the history of judicial selection in the state of Pennsylvania. It describes the judicial selection reform movement and the growth of the organization Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts ("PMC") which devises solutions to meet the various challenges to judicial integrity in Pennsylvania. It focuses on the merit system that PMC has been trying to achieve for Pennsylvania's appellate courts.

The Judicial Independence Through Fair Appointments Act, Norman L. Greene

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The Judicial Independence Through Fair Appointments Act is a model act which provides a merit-based system for selecting a qualified, independent, accountable, and diverse judiciary based onclose study of existing systems. It provides the entire structure of a judicial selection by appointment system, building on concepts in established commission-based appointment plans and incorporating important refinements.

On The Validity And Vitality Of Arizona’S Judicial Merit Selection System: Past, Present, And Future, Mark I. Harrison, Sara S. Greene, Keith Swisher, Meghan H. Grabel

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article demonstrates that merit selection is functioning commendably in Arizona and, for the most part, provides the public with a judicial selection process far more informative and generally superior to “traditional elections.” Part I of this Article sketches the history of Arizona’s merit selection of judges and its previous state-wide judicial election system. Part II discusses and analyzes attacks on merit selection and, in addition, assesses the effect of the Judicial Performance Review program initiated in 1992 to enhance the efficacy of the merit selection system. Finally, Part III describes the current status of merit selection in Arizona and …

Help Wanted: Is There A Better Way To Select Judges?, Luke Bierman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article gives an anecdotal account of the authors attempt to apply for a position as a State Court Judge that he saw posted in the newspaper. The article uses the job posting concept as a starting point to argue that the system of judicial appointment in New York needs to be reworked and there needs to be new and creative solutions brought into the discussion.

Enriching Judicial Independence: Seeking To Improve The Retention Vote Phase Of An Appointive Selection System, John F. Irwin, Daniel L. Real

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article discusses the problems and potential solutions with the system of judicial appointment in the state of Nebraska. The article focuses on how improving public awareness about the existing system, its goals, and its current weaknesses, and implementing steps to address those weaknesses, will help to keep everyone moving toward the best possible system. While changing attitudes and interest in judicial retention elections is certainly not an easy task, it is only through seeking such change that reformers of an elective retention system can hope to near its potential effectiveness.

Designing An Appointive System: The Key Issues, G. Alan Tarr

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article contains a selection of advice on how to improve the judicial selection system. The article explains that reconsideration of the judicial appointive systems must include both the broadly theoretical and the intensely practical. It should identify the key questions that must be addressed in creating a system of judicial appointment, elaborate and defend the principles that should guide choices among alternative appointive systems, and clarify how those principles can be translated into institutional arrangements that will advance the goal of a quality judiciary. This reconsideration should also take seriously the arguments and claims of those who oppose the …

Symposium On Rethinking Judicial Selection: A Critical Appraisal Of Appointive Selection For State Court Judges, William Michael Treanor

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This introduction dedicates this edition of the Urban Law Journal to the memory of Judge Marilyn Hall Patel. Judge Patel is known as a judge of the greatest independence and integrity, and her opinions reflect both her concern with the judicial craft and her inspiring commitment to justice and fairness.

Appointing Judges The European Way, Mary L. Volcansek

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article looks at methods of judicial selection in Europe as a way to contrast and perhaps better understand and improve the systems of judicial selection used in the United States. The article argues that in Europe, judicial independence is prized above and beyond any other possible positive trait. The democratic legitimacy of European judges derives from the intimate connection between democracy and the rule of law. Legitimacy does not attach, in the public eye, to a single political institution, but rather to the system as a whole.

Careful What You Wish For: Tough Questions, Honest Answers, And Innovative Approaches To Appointive Judicial Selection, Steven Zeidman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay, informed in significant part by personal experience, examines in greater detail some of the common features of appointive systems, and in the process raises issues, concerns, and questions. Every step of the way the goal remains the same—to devise an appointive system most likely to yield as outstanding a judiciary as possible.

A Cancer On The Republic: The Assault Upon Impartiality Of State Courts And The Challenge To Judicial Selection, Donald L. Burnett

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article examines judicial impartiality in the context of the state courts. Section I endeavors to show how impartial state courts are essential to fulfilling the constitutional guarantees of a republican form of government and of due process and equal protection of the law. Section II describes the current assault upon the impartiality of state courts, and Section III suggests several ways in which this cancer on the republic can be slowed or reversed—by specific actions within, or related to, the judicial selection process.

A Tribute To Hon. George Bundy Smith -- Colleague, Teacher, And Friend, Judith S. Kaye

Fordham Urban Law Journal

A tribute to Judge George Bundy Smith, discussing his work ethic both as a judge, professor, and mentor, his principles as a jurist, and his personal qualities.

A Tribute To Hon. George Bundy Smith -- A Friend And Colleague, Richard C. Wesley

Fordham Urban Law Journal

A tribute to George Bundy Smith, recalling time spent as colleagues and friends at the New York State Court of Appeals. The remarks describe Judge Smith on a personal and professional, discussing work he performed at the NAACP, and described his education in some detail.

A Tribute To Hon. George Bundy Smith -- A Remarkable Jurist And A Remarkable Man, Cornett Lewers

Fordham Urban Law Journal

A tribute to George Bundy Smith, emphasizing his contributions to The Metropolitan Black Bar Association and the Metropolitan Black Bar Scholarship Fund, as well as his past work as a civil rights protester, and an accomplished jurist.

Making Judicial Recusal More Rigorous, James J. Sample, David Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

The right to an impartial arbiter is the bedrock of due process. Yet litigants in most state courts face judges subject to election and reelection – and therefore to majoritarian political pressures that would appear to undermine the judges' impartiality. This tension has existed for as long as judges have been elected (and, to some extent, for as long as they have been appointed, in which case campaigns often take a less public but equally politicized form).

In recent years, however, this tension has become more acute. Today, state courts around the country increasingly resemble – and are increasingly perceived …

Ranking Judges According To Citation Bias, Mitu Gulati, Stephen J. Choi

Faculty Scholarship

In our Essay, we put forward a methodology to assess the amount of political bias that affects judges based on the decisions judges make on whom to cite in their opinions. Unlike prior studies looking at judicial bias that focus on judicial voting outcomes, our study of bias in citation practices is aimed at uncovering more subtle forms of bias. Judges may shy away from acting overly biased when making a highly visible decision such as voting in a particular case, but instead seek to shift the law more subtly through their reasoning and citation patterns in the opinion, thereby …

What Statutes Mean: Interpretive Lessons From Positive Theories Of Communication And Legislation, Cheryl Boudreau, Arthur Lupia, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Daniel B. Rodriguez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

On The Validity And Vitality Of Arizona’S Judicial Merit Selection System: Past, Present, And Future, Mark I. Harrison, Sara Sternberg Greene, Keith Swisher, Meghan H. Grabel

Faculty Scholarship

This Article demonstrates that merit selection is functioning commendably in Arizona and, for the most part, provides the public with a judicial selection process far more informative and generally superior to “traditional elections.” Part I of this Article sketches the history of Arizona’s merit selection of judges and its previous state-wide judicial election system. Part II discusses and analyzes attacks on merit selection and, in addition, assesses the effect of the Judicial Performance Review program initiated in 1992 to enhance the efficacy of the merit selection system. Finally, largely through extensive interviews of many participants in Arizona’s merit selection system, …

In Restraint Of Trade: The Judicial Law Clerk Hiring Plan, Mark W. Pletcher, Ludovic C. Ghesquiere

University of Colorado Law Review

In an effort to bring order to what has historically been a chaotic process, federal judges and law schools implemented the Judicial Law Clerk Hiring Plan in 2002, prohibiting all students except those in their third year of law school from applying for federal clerkships. However, there is a serious problem with the Law Clerk Hiring Plan: it is an unreasonable restraint of trade. In this article, we explore the history of the Law Clerk Hiring Plan and analyze whether it would survive traditional antitrust scrutiny. We conclude that the Plan is an unreasonable restraint of trade. Further, based upon …

Lawyer Professional Responsibility In Litigation, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

A perennially-vexing litigation issue concerns the limits of permissible attorney argument. More than a few lawyers have been tripped up by the occasional fuzziness of the line between aggressive advocacy and improper appeals to passion or prejudice. See Craig Lee Montz, Why Lawyers Continue to Cross the Line in Closing Argument: An Examination of Federal and State Cases, 28 Ohio N.U. L. Rev. 67 (2001-2002)(problem of violations results from lack of uniformity and clarity of ground rules as well as errors of counsel). In Cohen v. Lioce, 149 P.3d 916 (Nev. 2006) the Nevada Supreme Court both provided significant guidance …

Howard T. Markey, Sherman L. Cohn

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Chief Judge, jet test pilot and Air Force General, lead partner in a highly-respected law firm, law teacher, law dean and sought-after lecturer, Howard T. Markey packed into a single life four distinguished careers, any one of which would merit biographical attention. His early years, however, did not show the promise of what later occurred - or perhaps it did.

Selective Prosecution In Russia - Myth Or Reality?, Yelina Kvurt

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note examines the issue of selective prosecution, focusing on the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and argues that the Russian legal system lacks an explicit defense against such practices, which violate constitutional guarantees of equality before the law. It advocates for the adoption of a legal standard to address selective prosecution, drawing parallels with the U.S. legal framework while acknowledging the need to adapt it to Russia's unique judicial context.

A Tribute To Hon. George Bundy Smith: Welcome And Introduction, William Michael Treanor

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Opening remarks at ceremony honoring Judge George Bundy Smith, including anecdotes from past students, an overview of Judge Smith’s career and accomplishments, and a recognition of distinguished guests in the audience.