Judges Commons^™

My Reflections On Former Chief Justice Max Baer, Christine Donohue

Duquesne Law Review

Former Chief Justice Max Baer was a relative stranger to me when I joined the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in January 2016. Although we were both members of the Pittsburgh legal community, our paths never crossed in the practice, and not being a family law lawyer, I never had occasion to appear before him while he served on the bench in Allegheny County. While we engaged with each other on occasion at various bar association and Supreme Court functions, those encounters only gave me the superficial impression that he was approachable and had strong views on matters that were important …

Reflections On The Legacy Of Chief Justice Max Baer, Kevin M. Dougherty

Duquesne Law Review

The sky carried a light-greenish hue. The thunder let out a gentle growl. Suddenly the lightning slammed, and harsh winds pounded the patio furniture into the pool. The host bellowed for all to seek shelter inside. Paralyzed with uncertainty, I instinctively reached for then-Justice Max Baer's arm to direct him to safety. He calmly responded in his monotone voice: "It's only a tornado, Kevin. If you're frightened, run into the house with the others. I'm drinking my wine. We don't get enough of them in Pittsburgh, and I would like to see one."

Wrestling With The Baer, David Wecht

Duquesne Law Review

Max Baer was one of a kind. A man of irrepressible energy, of great devotion to family, state, and country, of unstinting dedication to the law and the courts. I met Max not long after I moved back home to Pittsburgh in 1993, after I had practiced law in Washington, D.C., for several years. He was around fifteen years older than me, and he was already a greatly respected jurist, having been elected to the Court of Common Pleas in 1989. Max had been assigned to the family division, as was the general custom for new judges, and he had …

Chief Justice Baer -- "The Fighting Baer Judge", Sallie Updyke Mundy

Duquesne Law Review

I first met Max Baer and his lovely wife Beth in January 2004 while attending a Pennsylvania Bar Association meeting in Florida. The event was dinner at a car themed restaurant, and the venue included several authentic vintage cars. Then, Max was a newly elected Justice to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and I was there as a practicing attorney with my three young sons, ages six, four, and two. I recall Max's genuine interest in learning who I was and being introduced to my children. Max delighted in interfacing with my young sons, showing them the cars and telling them …

Baer On Election Law, P. Kevin Brobson

Duquesne Law Review

When I attended my first appellate judges conference in June 2010 as a newly seated Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge, my wife Lauren and I had the pleasure of dining with then-Justice Max Baer and his wife Beth. Prior to that, Max and I had just one, brief conversation by telephone. We had never previously met in person. Wonderful friendships were formed during that dinner.

Chief Justice Max Baer And The Legitimacy Of Policy Courts, Thomas G. Saylor

Duquesne Law Review

It was with great pleasure that I watched my friend, Chief Justice Max Baer, orchestrate and preside over the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's 300th Anniversary Symposium conducted at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia in May 2022. And now, going on a year after his untimely passing, it is a source of comfort to know that Max was able to relish this milestone event in the sunset of his life.

To Go Boldly, Betsy Ceraso

Duquesne Law Review

It was an honor and a privilege working for Chief Justice Max Baer, whom I and most others in our chambers referred to as "the Judge." As a jurist, the Judge came to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from the family court, and he brought with him an immediate and heartfelt sense of how the judicial system affects the vulnerable, particularly children. The Judge was the ever-dedicated public servant who thought it important not only to serve the people, but to give back by engaging with students and young lawyers to help shape the next generation of litigants and judges. …

Remembering Chief Justice Max Baer, Kim Berkeley Clark

Duquesne Law Review

When Max Baer was elected to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in 1989, the Family Division was thought of as a place for new judges to be assigned and then leave as soon as possible. Judges and lawyers alike often characterized the work of the Family Division as less important than the work in other divisions because there are no jury trials, because of the high number of selfrepresented and unrepresented parties struggling to be heard, and due to the mistaken belief that rules were not followed.

Just Call Me Max, Maureen Lally-Green

Duquesne Law Review

Soon after Justice Max Baer was elected to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 2003, he met my husband, Stephen Ross Green, Esq. Ross greeted him with the traditional title lawyers use in professional gatherings: "Justice." Max would have none of that and collegially said, "With you, I'm not Justice Baer. Just call me Max." From that day on whenever Ross and I were with him, he was careful to "call" him "Max."

The Practical Jurisprudence Of Max Baer, Thomas R. Kline, Andra Laidacker, Charles Becker

Duquesne Law Review

The late Chief Justice Max Baer was a friend. We met through Duquesne Law School. Max graduated in 1975 and I (Tom Kline) graduated three years later. We did not attend law school at the same time, but we became friends through the Duquesne community. We shared the same birthday. We grew up Jewish in small-town Pennsylvania. Following graduation, Max stayed in Pittsburgh and built his career in the Attorney General's Office. I moved to Philadelphia to work for Jim Beasley. We sometimes were on the opposite sides of cases. But every year, we texted or called each other on …

Chief Justice Baer And The Supreme Court's Tricentennial Anniversary, John Hare

Duquesne Law Review

The debate about whether great people or great events primarily shape history is as old as the study of history itself. The truth seems to be somewhere in the middle: the right people presented with the right circumstances can achieve exceptional success. Such is the story of Chief Justice Baer's leadership in commemorating the tricentennial anniversary of his beloved Supreme Court. Fortuity made him the Chief Justice when the Court reached its three hundredth year in 2022, but he seized the opportunity and orchestrated a remarkable tribute to the Court's even more remarkable history.

The Judicial Opinions Of Chief Justice Max Baer Of The Supreme Court Of Pennsylvania (2004-2022), Joel Fishman

Duquesne Law Review

Chief Justice David Max Baer (December 24, 1947-October 1, 2022) was born in Pittsburgh, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, B.A., with honors, 1971, and from Duquesne University School of Law, J.D. with honors, 1975. He was admitted to the Allegheny County Bar and federal courts in 1975. He served as a Deputy Attorney-General (1975-79), practiced law in Sherrard, German and Kelly, PC, (1980-89), and elected a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in November 1989 and retained in November 1999, serving then from January 1990 to January 2004. Baer served as a member of the …

Epilogue: Chief Justice Max Baer's Enduring Legacy, April Barton

Duquesne Law Review

The pages of this special issue of our Duquesne Law Review of the Thomas R. Kline School of Law have been dedicated to our beloved friend, distinguished alumnus, and prominent jurist, Chief Justice Max Baer. We have assembled this tribute to his life and service to our Commonwealth as an example of the best of our profession.

Constitutional Law: Faithful Execution In The Fifty States, Zachary S. Price

The Judges' Book

No abstract provided.

Book Review, Her Honor: Stories Of Challenge And Triumph From Women Judges By Lauren S. Rikleen (2024), Ashley Evans

Library Scholarship

In an inspiring collection of stories, Her Honor: Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges takes readers on a journey into the lives and experiences of 25 female judges. These distinguished women are all recipients of the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Award, an honor bestowed upon women who achieve professional excellence and serve as inspirations in the legal field. The collection of narratives in this book shines a light on the exceptional lives, hardships, and accomplishments of these exceptional women, leaving readers feeling empowered and motivated.

Henderson And The Objective Observer Standard: The Future Of Race-Conscious Standards Post-Students For Fair Admissions, Gabriela Dionisio

Seattle University Law Review

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, which struck down race-conscious admissions policies. Within just a year after its ruling, Students for Fair Admissions has already had a sweeping impact, reaching beyond higher education. Although the Supreme Court did not indicate whether Students for Fair Admissions applies to sectors beyond higher education, law firms, and other employers have already modified their diversity policies and initiatives, erasing race and company diversity considerations. Given those dramatic changes, there is growing fear that Students for Fair Admissions …

Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan

Seattle University Law Review

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. The American obsession with crime and punishment can be tracked over the last half-century, as the nation’s incarceration rate has risen astronomically. Since 1970, the number of incarcerated people in the United States has increased more than sevenfold to over 2.3 million, outpacing both crime and population growth considerably. While the rise itself is undoubtedly bleak, a more troubling truth lies just below the surface. Not all states contribute equally to American mass incarceration. Rather, states have vastly different incarceration rates. Unlike at the federal level, …

Partisan Panel Composition And Reliance On Earlier Opinions In The Circuit Courts, Stuart Minor Benjamin, Byungkoo Kim, Kevin M. Quinn

Faculty Scholarship

Does the partisan composition of three-judge panels affect how earlier opinions are treated and thus how the law develops? Using a novel data set of Shepard's treatments for all cases decided in the U.S. courts of appeals from 1974 to 2017, we investigate three different versions of this question. First, are panels composed of three Democratic (Republican) appointees more likely to follow opinions decided by panels of three Democratic (Republican) appointees than are panels composed of three Republican (Democratic) appointees? Second, does the presence of a single out-party judge change how a panel relies on earlier decisions compared to what …

Disgusted Judges And Domestic Violence, Jessica Miles

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Domestic violence is disgusting. Seeing a person with a bruised face or black eye can make us cringe. Reading a graphic description of a physical or sexual assault by an intimate partner can lead to revulsion. Like the rest of us, judges experience disgust--both consciously and subconsciously--when confronted with evidence of abuse in intimate relationships. These feelings of disgust shape the judicial system's responses to domestic violence in non-obvious ways.

In the minority of cases which seem to be “clear cut” (e.g., involving recent and corroborated physical or sexual violence), judicial disgust with defendants found to have perpetrated domestic violence …

Public Primacy In Corporate Law, Dorothy S. Lund

Seattle University Law Review

This Article explores the malleability of agency theory by showing that it could be used to justify a “public primacy” standard for corporate law that would direct fiduciaries to promote the value of the corporation for the benefit of the public. Employing agency theory to describe the relationship between corporate management and the broader public sheds light on aspects of firm behavior, as well as the nature of state contracting with corporations. It also provides a lodestar for a possible future evolution of corporate law and governance: minimize the agency costs created by the divergence of interests between management and …

Robo-Voting: Does Delegated Proxy Voting Pose A Challenge For Shareholder Democracy?, John Matsusaka, Chong Shu

Seattle University Law Review

Robo-voting is the practice by an investment fund of mechanically voting in corporate elections according to the advice of its proxy advisor— in effect fully delegating its voting decision to its advisor. We examined over 65 million votes cast during the period 2008–2021 by 14,582 mutual funds to describe and quantify the prevalence of robo-voting. Overall, 33% of mutual funds robo-voted in 2021: 22% with ISS, 4% with Glass Lewis, and six percent with the recommendations of the issuer’s management. The fraction of funds that robo-voted increased until around 2013 and then stabilized at the current level. Despite the sizable …

The Limits Of Corporate Governance, Cathy Hwang, Emily Winston

Seattle University Law Review

What is the purpose of the corporation? For decades, the answer was clear: to put shareholders’ interests first. In many cases, this theory of shareholder primacy also became synonymous with the imperative to maximize shareholder wealth. In the world where shareholder primacy was a north star, courts, scholars, and policymakers had relatively little to fight about: most debates were minor skirmishes about exactly how to maximize shareholder wealth.

Part I of this Essay discusses the shortcomings of shareholder primacy and stakeholder governance, arguing that neither of these modes of governance provides an adequate framework for incentivizing corporations to do good. …

The Pioneers, Waves, And Random Walks Of Securities Law In The Supreme Court, Elizabeth Pollman

Seattle University Law Review

After the pioneers, waves, and random walks that have animated the history of securities laws in the U.S. Supreme Court, we might now be on the precipice of a new chapter. Pritchard and Thompson’s superb book, A History of Securities Law in the Supreme Court, illuminates with rich archival detail how the Court’s view of the securities laws and the SEC have changed over time and how individuals have influenced this history. The book provides an invaluable resource for understanding nearly a century’s worth of Supreme Court jurisprudence in the area of securities law and much needed context for …

Three Stories: A Comment On Pritchard & Thompson’S A History Of Securities Laws In The Supreme Court, Harwell Wells

Seattle University Law Review

Adam Pritchard and Robert Thompson’s A History of Securities Laws in the Supreme Court should stand for decades as the definitive work on the Federal securities laws’ career in the Supreme Court across the twentieth century.1 Like all good histories, it both tells a story and makes an argument. The story recounts how the Court dealt with the major securities laws, as well the agency charged with enforcing them, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the rules it promulgated, from the 1930s into the twenty-first century. But the book does not just string together a series of events, “one …

On The Value Of History: A Review Of A.C. Pritchard & Robert B. Thompson’S A History Of Securities Law In The Supreme Court, Joel Seligman

Seattle University Law Review

A.C. Pritchard and Bob Thompson have written a splendid history of securities law decisions in the Supreme Court. Their book is exemplary because of its detailed use of the long unpublished papers of Supreme Court justices, including those of Harry Blackmun, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter and Lewis F. Powell, primary sources which included correspondence with other Justices and law clerks as well as interviews with law clerks. The use of these primary sources recounted throughout the text and 67 pages of End Notes deepens our understanding of the intentions of the Justices and sharpens our understanding of the conflicts …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Memories Of An Affirmative Action Activist, Margaret E. Montoya

Seattle University Law Review

Some twenty-five years ago, the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) led a march supporting Affirmative Action in legal education to counter the spate of litigation and other legal prohibitions that exploded during the 1990s, seeking to limit or abolish race-based measures. The march began at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel, where the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) was having its annual meeting, and proceeded to Union Square. We, the organizers of the march, did not expect the march to become an iconic event; one that would be remembered as a harbinger of a new era of activism by …

Defeat Fascism, Transform Democracy: Mapping Academic Resources, Reframing The Fundamentals, And Organizing For Collective Actions, Francisco Valdes

Seattle University Law Review

The information we gathered during 2021–2023 shows that critical faculty and other academic resources are present throughout most of U.S. legal academia. Counting only full-time faculty, our limited research identified 778 contacts in 200 schools equating to nearly four contacts on average per school. But no organized critical “core” had coalesced within legal academia or, more broadly, throughout higher education expressly dedicated to defending and advancing critical knowledge and its production up to now. And yet, as the 2021–2022 formation of the Critical (Legal) Collective (“CLC”) outlined below demonstrates, many academics sense or acknowledge the need for greater cohesion among …

Sffa V. Harvard College: Closing The Doors Of Equality In Education, Ediberto Roman

Seattle University Law Review

The United States Supreme Court’s recent combined decision ending affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina was hailed in conservative circles as the beginning of “the long road” towards racial equality. Others declared that “the opinion may begin the restoration of our nation’s constitutional colorblind legal covenant.” Another writer pronounced, “Affirmative action perpetuated racial discrimination. Its end is a huge step forward.” A Washington-based opinion page even declared: “[T]he demise of race-based affirmative action should inspire renewed commitment to the ideal of equal opportunity in America.” Despite …

Religious Freedom And Diversity Missions: Insights From Jesuit Law Deans, Anthony E. Varona, Michèle Alexandre, Michael J. Kaufman, Madeleine M. Landrieu

Seattle University Law Review

This Article is a transcript of a panel moderated by Anthony E. Varona, Dean of Seattle University School of Law. During the panel, Jesuit and religious law school deans discussed what law schools with religious missions have to add to the conversation around SFFA and the continuing role of affirmative action in higher education.