Who's Afraid Of Judicial Activism? Reconceptualizing A Traditional Paradigm In The Context Of Specialized Domestic Violence Court Programs,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
Who's Afraid Of Judicial Activism? Reconceptualizing A Traditional Paradigm In The Context Of Specialized Domestic Violence Court Programs, Jennifer L. Thompson
Maine Law Review
The Specialized Domestic Violence Pilot Project (Pilot Project), implemented in York and Portland in July and August 2002, is the result of the collaborative efforts of the District Court system, law enforcement, prosecutors, members of the defense bar, and various community agencies offering services to victims and perpetrators. District court judges are largely responsible for overseeing the changes in court procedures and implementing the new protocols in domestic violence cases. The Pilot Project, and the changes it is making to the role that courts play in domestic violence cases, represents a significant departure from the procedures followed by traditional court …
The False Idolarty Of Rules-Based Law,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
The False Idolarty Of Rules-Based Law, John C. Sheldon
Maine Law Review
When the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public schools in 1954, it acknowledged this social truth: assigning separate public facilities to separate classes of people fosters inequality among those classes. Although Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka addressed only educational facilities, the Court quickly broadened the scope of its decision, applying it to racial discrimination in or at public beaches, buses, golf courses, parks, municipal airport restaurants and state courtrooms. And although Brown addressed only racial discrimination, it quickly became the basis for condemning many forms of discrimination, including race, religion, wealth, gender, age, and disability. What gave Brown …
In Search Of A Parsimonious Model Of Personal Jurisdiction,
2017
University of Oklahoma College of Law
In Search Of A Parsimonious Model Of Personal Jurisdiction, Roger Michalski
Other Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
What Got Into The Court? What Happens Next?,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
What Got Into The Court? What Happens Next?, Linda Greenhouse
Maine Law Review
We are now in the midst of an amazing Supreme Court term--more than half-way through on the calendar, far short of halfway through in terms of what has yet to be decided. It's been a roller-coaster term of sorts, beginning with the highly unusual early-September argument in the campaign finance case, followed by a rather quiet fall and winter, and then ending with an April sitting during which the Court will consider, in the context of the country's response to terrorism, cases that are likely to go quite far to define for the modern age the meaning of citizenship and, …
Distinguished Jurist-In-Residence Lecture: Sentencing Reform: When Everyone Behaves Badly,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
Distinguished Jurist-In-Residence Lecture: Sentencing Reform: When Everyone Behaves Badly, Nancy Gertner
Maine Law Review
Sentencing is different from almost all functions of the government and surely different from the other functions of the judiciary. It is the moment when state power meets an individual directly. It necessarily involves issues that are distinct from those in other areas of the law. It requires a court to focus on the defendant, to craft a punishment proportionate to the offense and to the offender. It should come as no surprise that in countries across the world, common law and civil code, totalitarian and free, judges have been given great discretion in sentencing. To be sure, that power …
Reflections On The Challenging Proliferation Of Mental Health Issues In The District Court And The Need For Judicial Education,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
Reflections On The Challenging Proliferation Of Mental Health Issues In The District Court And The Need For Judicial Education, Jessie B. Gunther
Maine Law Review
Maine's courts constantly deal with litigants with mental health issues. Historically, our decisions have relied on expert testimony addressing specific issues of responsibility, risk, and treatment. In recent years, by my observation, court involvement in the treatment process has increased, but the availability of expert evidence has decreased. Thus, we as judges have become the ultimate decision-makers regarding litigants' mental health treatment in both criminal and civil contexts, without supporting expert testimony. In the face of this development, three interconnected issues arise. The first issue is whether judges should even attempt to fill the void caused by lack of expert …
Abuse Of Discretion: Maine's Application Of A Malleable Appellate Standard,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
Abuse Of Discretion: Maine's Application Of A Malleable Appellate Standard, Andrew M. Mead
Maine Law Review
It is not unusual for an appellate court to simply announce: “In the circumstances of this case, the trial justice did not abuse his discretion ....” No further clarification or elaboration is offered by the learned justices of the court. The parties are left with a final judgment, but little understanding of the appellate court's review process. Although the objective of finality is satisfied, the objective of clarity is ignored. When litigants and counsel are faced with similar factual or legal circumstances in the future, they remain without guidance or insight into the factors that the appellate court deemed to …
Judges, Racism, And The Problem Of Actual Innocence,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
Judges, Racism, And The Problem Of Actual Innocence, Stephen J. Fortunato Jr.
Maine Law Review
The facts and data are in and the conclusion they compel is bleak: the American criminal justice system and its showpiece, the criminal trial, harbor at their core a systemic racism. For decades, criminologists, law professors, sociologists, government statisticians, and others have been collecting and collating data on crime, punishment, and incarceration in the United States. These intrepid scholars have looked at crime, criminals, and the justice system from all angles—the race of defendants and victims; the relationship of poverty to criminality; severity of crime; severity of punishment; incarceration rates for different racial groups; sentencing and sentence disparities; and so …
Witness For The Client: A Judge's Role In Increasing Awareness In The Defendant,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
Witness For The Client: A Judge's Role In Increasing Awareness In The Defendant, Joyce Wheeler
Maine Law Review
My participation in a new drug treatment court over the last few years signifies a transformation of this judge's application of herself in the courtroom. I have moved from the traditional role of judge to a more fluid role in which I begin from the stance as witness for the client and, when necessary, move to the more traditional decision-making responsibility of a judge. Awareness of the change occurred over time, but became most apparent in the context of an adult drug treatment court that integrates drug and alcohol treatment into the criminal justice system. A number of factors support …
When The Court Speaks: Effective Communication As A Part Of Judging,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
When The Court Speaks: Effective Communication As A Part Of Judging, Daniel E. Wathen
Maine Law Review
One of my early judicial role models, Justice James L. Reid of the Maine Superior Court, was sentencing a defendant for a murder committed within the confines of the Maine State Prison. The defendant was already serving a life sentence for another murder at the time the offense was committed. Because Maine has no parole or capital punishment, the sentencing options were limited and ultimately meaningless. As Jim imposed a life sentence consecutive to the existing life sentence, the defendant rose in his manacles and uttered an early Anglo-Saxon version of “screw you.” Jim, rising from the bench and moving …
Some Reflections On Dissenting,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
Some Reflections On Dissenting, Kermit V. Lipez
Maine Law Review
In the collegial world of appellate judging, where the dominant impulse is consensus, dissents depart from the norm. If their language is sharp, the dissents may offend colleagues and worry court watchers who expect consensus. These self-assigned opinions also add to the pressures of the work. Given these implications, the choice to dissent should never be a casual one. You must weigh the institutional and personal costs and benefits, understand the purpose of the dissent and the audiences for it, and always be attentive to style and tone. In a haphazard sort of way, I consider these issues when I …
Brief Of International Law Scholars And Non-Governmental Organizations As Amici Curiae In Support Of Appellees In International Refugee Assistance Project V. Trump, 2017 U.S. 4th Cir.,
2017
American University Washington College of Law
Brief Of International Law Scholars And Non-Governmental Organizations As Amici Curiae In Support Of Appellees In International Refugee Assistance Project V. Trump, 2017 U.S. 4th Cir., Amanda Frost
Amicus Briefs & Court Filings
No abstract provided.
Lincoln, The Constitution Of Necessity, And The Necessity Of Constitutions: A Reply To Professor Paulsen,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
Lincoln, The Constitution Of Necessity, And The Necessity Of Constitutions: A Reply To Professor Paulsen, Michael Kent Curtis
Maine Law Review
The George W. Bush administration responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11th with far-reaching assertions of a vast commander-in-chief power that it has often insisted is substantially free of effective judicial or legislative checks. As Scott Shane wrote in the December 17, 2005 edition of the New York Times, "[f]rom the Government's detention of [American citizens with no or severely limited access to courts, and none to attorneys, families, or friends] as [alleged] 'enemy combatants' to the just disclosed eavesdropping in the United States without court warrants, the administration has relied on an unusually expansive interpretation of the president's …
Assigning Infringement Claims: Silvers V. Sony Pictures,
2017
University of Maine School of Law
Assigning Infringement Claims: Silvers V. Sony Pictures, Heather B. Sanborn
Maine Law Review
The Copyright Act establishes protection for original, creative works of authorship as a means of providing ex ante incentives for creativity. But how real is that protection? Imagine that you have written a script and managed to have your play produced in a local community theater. A few years later, you find that a major Hollywood studio has taken your script, adapted it slightly, and made it into the next summer blockbuster, raking in millions without ever obtaining a license from you. Of course, you can sue them for infringement. But how much will that litigation cost and what are …
An Examination Of The State And Federal Courts' Treatment Of The Parent-Child Privilege,
2017
St. John's University School of Law
An Examination Of The State And Federal Courts' Treatment Of The Parent-Child Privilege, Maureen P. O'Sullivan
The Catholic Lawyer
No abstract provided.
Contingent Fee Litigation In New York City,
2017
Vanderbilt University Law School
Contingent Fee Litigation In New York City, Eric Helland, Daniel Klerman, Brendan Dowling, Alexander Kappner
Vanderbilt Law Review
Since 1957, New York courts have required contingent fee lawyers to file "closing statements" that disclose settlement amounts, lawyers' fees, an accounting of expenses, and other information. This Article provides a preliminary analysis of these data for the period 2004- 2013. Among this Article's findings are that settlement rates in New York state courts are very high (84%) relative to previous studies; that very few cases are resolved by dispositive motions; that litigated cases and settled cases have almost exactly the same average recovery; that median litigation expenses, other than attorney's fees, are 3% of gross recovery; that claims are …
Defense Counsel And Public Defence,
2017
University of Michigan Law School
Defense Counsel And Public Defence, Eve Brensike Primus
Book Chapters
Public-defense delivery systems nationwide are grossly inadequate. Public defenders are forced to handle caseloads that no one could effectively manage. They often have no funding for investigation or expert assistance. They aren’t adequately trained, and there is little to no oversight of their work. In many jurisdictions, the public-defense function is not sufficiently independent of the judiciary or the elected branches to allow for zealous representation. The result is an assembly line into prison, mostly for poor people of color, with little check on the reliability or fairness of the process. Innocent people are convicted, precious resources are wasted, and …
Criminal Certification: Restoring Comity In The Categorical Approach,
2017
University of Michigan Law School
Criminal Certification: Restoring Comity In The Categorical Approach, Joshua Rothenberg
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Federal sentencing enhancements force federal courts to delve into the world of substantive state criminal law. Does a state assault statute require violent force or just offensive touching? Does a state burglary statute that criminalizes breaking into a car or a house require prosecutors to charge the location entered as an element? Whether a person with prior convictions convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) faces a minimum sentence of fifteen years and a maximum of life imprisonment rather than a maximum sentence of ten years turns upon the answers to these questions. Yet, state law often does not resolve …
Panel Assignment In The Federal Courts Of Appeals,
2017
Duke University School of Law
Panel Assignment In The Federal Courts Of Appeals, Marin K. Levy
Cornell Law Review
It is common knowledge that the federal courts of appeals typically hear cases in panels of three judges and that the composition of the panel can have significant consequences for case outcomes and for legal doctrine more generally. Yet neither legal scholars nor social scientists have focused on the question of how judges are selected for their panels. Instead, a substantial body of scholarship simply assumes that panel assignment is random. This Article provides what, up until this point, has been a missing account of panel assignment. Drawing on a multiyear qualitative study of five circuit courts, including in-depth interviews …
Improving Access To Justice In State Courts With Platform Technology,
2017
University of Michigan Law School
Improving Access To Justice In State Courts With Platform Technology, J. J. Prescott
Articles
Access to justice often equates to access to state courts, and for millions of Americans, using state courts to resolve their disputes—often with the government—is a real challenge. Reforms are regularly proposed in the hopes of improving the situation (e.g., better legal aid), but until recently a significant part of the problem has been structural. Using state courts today for all but the simplest of legal transactions entails at the very least traveling to a courthouse and meeting with a decision maker in person and in a one-on-one setting. Even minimally effective access, therefore, requires time, transportation, and very often …
