Judges Commons^™

Celebrating Contributions Of Opinions Authored By Chief Judge Randall R. Rader In Patent Infringement Cases, Katherine E. White

Law Faculty Research Publications

Chief Judge RaderÕs judicial opinions contribute significantly to patent infringement jurisprudence. He writes from a teacherÕs perspective, providing context and a clear lens through which legal issues may be examined. His deep reverence for the rule of law pervades his opinions, as he injects a cadre of principles governing his approach. Each opinion builds a foundation made of consistency and clarity in upholding the fundamental purposes underlying the patent grant.

Judicial Opinions And Appellate Advocacy In Federal Courts - One Judge's Views, Richard A. Posner

Duquesne Law Review

I have been a federal court of appeals judge for thirty years, and naturally over this long span of time I have formed judgments about how federal court of appeals judges should go about deciding cases, what their judicial opinions should be like (which raises the issue of how judges should use staff, consisting mainly of law clerks), and how lawyers should brief and argue cases in these courts. My purpose in this article is to distill my beliefs concerning opinions and advocacy into practical advice for federal court of appeals judges, their law clerks, and the lawyers who practice …

Another Judge's Views On Writing Judicial Opinions, Beverly B. Martin

Duquesne Law Review

The privilege of being a federal circuit judge allows, and indeed obliges, a judge to bring scrutiny and truth to the disputes she considers. Certainly, a judge's determination of what is truth is most clearly and effectively communicated by the judge's own telling of how she arrived at that truth. So Judge Posner's advocacy for judges writing their own opinions makes good sense. Indeed, it is hard to imagine any judge taking the other side of that argument. I certainly will not do that here. But if I am obliged to tell the truth, I must confess that I do …

Limitations (A Response To Judge Posner), Chad M. Oldfather

Duquesne Law Review

Among the advice that Judge Posner offers to his fellow judges is the suggestion that they remain mindful of their limitations:

"I suggest that when trying to make up his mind about which way to vote, the judge remind himself of his limitations (limitations that all judges have)-the limitations of his knowledge of the law, the limitations of his knowledge of the case at hand, the limitations of his knowledge of the real-world context of the case, and the limitations (or distortions) of his thinking that result from the biases that all judges bring to judging. Not that it is …

In Good Conscience: Expressions Of Judicial Conscience In Federal Appellate Opinions, Sarah M.R. Cravens

Duquesne Law Review

Justice Holmes, an icon of both the theory and the practice of the appellate judicial role, once famously said that the job of the judge is not to "do justice" but simply to apply the law. Along similar lines, law professors are forever reminding our students that when referring to judicial opinions, they ought to say that courts "hold" or "state" or "reason," but not that they "feel" or "believe." But, of course, judges are human, so we know that they do feel and believe things. They have convictions and commitments that are important to them, both personally and in …

Judicial Perspective And Mentorship At The Supreme Court: A Review Essay On In Chambers: Stories Of Supreme Court Law Clerks And Their Justices, Edited By Todd C. Peppers And Artemus Ward, Harvey Gee

Duquesne Law Review

In their recently released book, In Chambers: Stories of Supreme Court Law Clerks and Their Justices ("In Chambers"), editors Todd Peppers and Artemus Ward offer a collection of previously published articles and new unpublished essays on select justices and their clerks to illuminate how the personal relationships between justices and clerks impact the Court. Contributors include distinguished law professors, judges, academics, and legal correspondents. Peppers and Ward are certainly qualified to talk about the Supreme Court clerkship institution. Six years ago, Peppers released Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court Law Clerk …

Veterans Court: Towards The Implementation Of A Collaborative Justice Model In San Luis Obispo County, Daniel Smee

Continuing Education (CAPSTONE)

Veterans’ treatment courts represent an emerging trend across the country of collaborative justice designed to deal with criminal justice issues stemming from problems linked to military service. This approach places the veteran in VA (Veterans Affairs) treatment programs as a diversion from incarceration. There are few such courts in California (nine) largely in non-rural counties. This study investigated two rural counties, Tulare and Santa Barbara with Veterans courts to develop a model for such a court in San Luis Obispo County. Early recidivism data at the one-year point for Tulare County showed a zero percent rate of criminal behavior (12 …

Fill The Bench And Empty The Docket: Filibuster Reform For District Court Nominations, Jeremy Garson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Judges are, without question, vital to our justice system. They interpret, adapt, and apply the law. They resolve disputes for the parties to the case at issue and provide guidance to others in analogous situations. They are the gears that keep the wheels of justice moving. Unfortunately, in the case of our federal courts, many of these gears are missing. Eighty-three of our 874 federal judgeships are vacant, including thirty-four that have been declared “judicial emergencies.” Our Constitution vests the President with the power to nominate federal judges and the Senate with the power to confirm or reject them, and …

Session I: The Legacy Of Justice Arthur Goldberg, 29 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 285 (2012), Samuel R. Olken, Gerald Berendt, Gilbert A. Cornfield, Gilbert Feldman, David Stebenne, Milton I. Shadur

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Legal Affinities: Explorations In The Legal Form Of Thought, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Working Paper Series

This is my Introduction to Legal Affinities: Explorations in the Legal Form of Thought (forthcoming 2012) (co-edited with H. Jefferson Powell and Jack Sammons), a volume of essays dedicated to exploring the work of Joseph Vining. The Introduction introduces Vining’s phenomenology of law and surveys the themes and topics developed by the volume’s eight authors: Joseph Vining, Judge John T. Noonan, Jr., Rev. John McCausland, H. Jefferson Powell, Jack Sammons, Steve Smith, James Boyd White, and Patrick Brennan.

Free Speech For Judges And Due Process For Litigants: The Elimination Of First And Fourteenth Amendment Mutual Exclusivity In Siefert V. Alexander, 46 J. Marshall L. Rev. 333 (2012), Margaret Mares

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gingrich, Desegregation, And Judicial Supremacy, Joel Alicea

Scholarly Articles

Those who oppose judicial supremacy follow in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln himself.

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Judges In Singapore, Muhammad Haniff Hassan, Sharifah Thuraiya Su'ad Ahmad Alhadshi

Washington International Law Journal

Syariah court judges and the decisions they make clearly have an effect on the interpretation and application of Islamic law in contemporary Muslim societies, and the educational background of those who staff these courts obviously informs the way they understand, interpret, and apply the law. To date, however, little research has been done on the educational processes by which Islamic court judges are trained to think about Islamic law. Likewise, the means by which Islamic court judges are appointed and regulated has received little scholarly attention. This article offers a descriptive overview of the training, work, and professional regulation of …

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Judges In Malaysia, Najibah M. Zin

Washington International Law Journal

Shari‛a court judges and the decisions they make clearly have an effect on the interpretation and application of Islamic law in contemporary Muslim societies, and the educational background of those who staff these courts obviously informs the way they understand, interpret, and apply the law. To date, however, little research has been done on the educational processes by which judges who serve on Islamic courts are trained to think about Islamic law. Likewise, the means by which Islamic court judges are appointed and regulated has received little scholarly attention. This article offers a descriptive overview of the training, work, and …

Legal Ethics For The Millennials Avoiding The Compromise Of Integrity, Helia Garrido Hull

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

From The Bench To The Screen: The Woman Judge In Film, Laura Krugman Ray

Cleveland State Law Review

Although there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women judges over the past half century, their cinematic counterparts have failed to reflect that change. This Article explores the paradoxical relationship between social reality and its representation on screen to identify a lingering resistance to the idea of women exercising judicial power. The Article first examines the sparse history of women judges as central characters in films of the 1930s, finding the tension in those films between judicial authority and domestic happiness. It then turns to Hollywood’s romantic comedies of the 1940s, which resolved that tension through the …

Constitutional Cases And The Four Cardinal Virtues, R. George Wright

Cleveland State Law Review

In addressing constitutional cases, judges face no shortage of legal rules, tests, principles, doctrines, and policies upon which to draw. In those cases, the challenge is assumed to be to identify and apply the most relevant such legal rules, tests, principles, doctrines, and policies. An accompanying judicial opinion tries to articulate this process, partly to legitimize the outcome, partly to provide guidance, and perhaps partly for purposes of civic education and inspiration. This Article recommends a somewhat different approach to constitutional adjudication. Specifically, this Article recommends supplementing the above standard forms of constitutional adjudication with appropriate and legitimate attention to …

Our Broken Misdemeanor Justice System: Its Problems And Some Potential Solutions, Eve Brensike Primus

Reviews

Although misdemeanors comprise an overwhelming majority of state criminal court cases, little judicial and scholarly attention has been focused on how misdemeanor courts actually operate. In her article, Misdemeanors, Alexandra Natapoff rights this wrong and explains how the low-visibility, highly discretionary decisions made by actors at the misdemeanor level often result in rampant discrimination, incredible inefficiency, and vast miscarriages of justice. Misdemeanors makes a significant contribution to the literature by refocusing attention on the importance of misdemeanor offenses and beginning an important dialogue about what steps should be taken going forward to fix our broken misdemeanor justice system.

Judges! Stop Deferring To Class-Action Lawyers, Brian Wolfman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

I represent a national non-profit consumer rights organization, as an amicus, in a federal appeal challenging a district court’s approval of a class-action settlement of claims under the federal Credit Repair Organization Act (CROA). My client maintains that the district court erred in finding that the settlement was “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” which is the standard for class-action settlement approval under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In particular, we argue that the district court committed a reversible legal error when it deferred to the class-action lawyers’ recommendation to approve the settlement because, in those lawyers’ view, it was fair, …

Justifying Diversity In The Federal Judiciary, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

This Essay thus scrutinizes Obama’s judicial selection effort, which confirms many ideas that Scherer espouses while showing how political deficiencies in the modern selection process erode diversity and legitimacy, and perhaps Scherer’s provocative solution. This response ultimately discusses some promising measures beyond Scherer’s recommendation that could enhance diversity and legitimacy in light of the threat that politicization poses

Standing The Test Of Time: The Breadth Of Majority Coalitions And The Fate Of U.S. Supreme Court Precedents, Stuart M. Benjamin, Bruce A. Desmarais

Faculty Scholarship

Should a strategic Justice assemble a broader coalition for the majority opinion than is necessary, even if that means accommodating changes that move the opinion away from the author’s ideal holding? If the author’s objective is to durably move the law to his or her ideal holding, the conventional answer is no, because there is a cost and no corresponding benefit. We consider whether attracting a broad majority coalition can placate future courts. Controlling for the size of the coalition, we find that cases with ideologically narrow coalitions are more likely to be treated negatively by later courts. Specifically, adding …

No Justice In Utah's Justice Courts: Constitutional Issues, Systemic Problems, And The Failure To Protect Defendants In Utah's Infamous Local Courts, Samuel P. Newton, Teresa L. Welch, Neal G. Hamilton

Utah OnLaw: The Utah Law Review Online Supplement

Utah’s justice of the peace courts look and feel exactly like district courts, yet they lack the benefits and protections afforded to citizens charged with more serious offenses. Utah should strongly consider abolishing its justice courts in order to integrate them into a statewide system of justice that would “keep the peace” for all of the state’s citizens. If Utah does not abolish its justice courts, then it should implement the procedures and reforms outlined in this Article. Utah continues to have an opportunity to provide meaningful, and constitutional, justice administered at its local level. Once these reforms were implemented, …

The Fight Over "Fighting Regs" And Judicial Deference In Tax Litigation, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The question of how much deference courts should accord agency interpretations of statutes is a high-profile and important issue that affects both rulemaking and case outcomes. What level of deference should courts accord an agency regulation or other rule that an agency has issued opportunistically, during the course of related litigation? This important question has arisen in numerous cases, including the 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research v. United States, a case involving a Treasury regulation.

To answer the question, the Article analyzes the law on judicial deference to tax authorities generally, as …

Elected Judges And Statutory Interpretation, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl, Ethan J. Leib

Faculty Scholarship

This Article considers whether differences in methods of judicial selection should influence how judges approach statutory interpretation. Courts and scholars have not given this question much sustained attention, but most would probably embrace the “unified model,” according to which appointed judges (such as federal judges) and elected judges (such as many state judges) are supposed to approach statutory text in identical ways. There is much to be said for the unified model—and we offer the first systematic defense of it. But the Article also attempts to make the best case for the more controversial but also plausible contrary view: that …

Recusal, Government Ethics, And Superannuated Constitutional Theory, Keith Swisher

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

We, The Judges: The Legalized Subject And Narratives Of Adjudication In Reality Television, 81 Umkc L. Rev. 1 (2012), Cynthia D. Bond

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

At first a cultural oddity, reality television is now a cultural commonplace. These quasi-documentaries proliferate on a wide range of network and cable channels, proving adaptable to any audience demographic. Across a variety of types of "reality" offerings, narratives of adjudication replete with "judges," "juries," and "verdicts"-abound. Do these judgment formations simply reflect the often competitive structure or subtext of reality TV? Or is there a deeper, more constitutive connection between reality TV as a genre and narratives of law and adjudication? This article looks beyond the many "judge shows" popular on reality TV (e.g., Judge Judy') to examine the …

New Law, Old Cases, Fair Outcomes: Why The Illinois Supreme Court Must Overrule People V Flowers, 43 Loy. U. Chi. L.J. 727 (2012), Timothy P. O'Neill

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Text(Plus-Other-Stuff)Ualism:Textualists' Perplexing Use Of The Attorney General's Manual On The Administrative Procedure Act, K. M. Lewis

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Textualist judges, such as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, are well known for their outspoken, adamant refusal to consult legislative history and its analogues when interpreting ambiguous provisions of statutory terms. Nevertheless, in administrative law cases, textualist judges regularly quote the Attorney General’s Manual on the Administrative Procedure Act, an unenacted Department of Justice document that shares all the characteristics of legislative history that textualists find odious: unreliability, bias, and failure to pass through the bicameralism and presentment processes mandated by the U.S. Constitution. As a result, judges that rely on the Manual in administrative law cases arguably reach …

To Advice And Consentdelay: The Role Of Interest Groups In The Confirmation Of Judges To The Federal Courts Of Appeal, Donald E. Campbell

Journal Articles

Political and partisan battles over nominees to the federal courts of appeal have reached unprecedented levels. This article considers the reasons for this change in the process. Using evidence from law and political science, this article proposes that current confirmation struggles are greatly influenced by increased involvement of interest groups in the process. The article tests the role of interest groups through an in-depth examination of George W Bush's nomination of Leslie H. Southwick to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Utilizing the Southwick case study, the article provides evidence of how interest groups impact the confirmation process by designating …

The Politicization Of Judicial Elections And Its Effect On Judicial Independence, Matthew W. Green Jr., Susan J. Becker

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article presents the proceedings of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Symposium, The Politicization of Judicial Elections and Its Effect on Judicial Independence and LGBT Rights, held October 21, 2011. The idea for the conference stemmed from the November 2010 Iowa judicial election, in which three justices were voted out of office as a result of joining a unanimous ruling, Varnum v. Brien, that struck down, on equal protection grounds, a state statute limiting marriage rights to heterosexual couples. The conference addresses whether the backlash that occurred in Iowa after the Varnum decision might undermine judicial independence in jurisdictions where …