Courts Commons^™

Is Justice Available To All? Indigent Defense In Michigan, Barbara K. Lanning

Honors Theses

Does Michigan’s public defense system operate in accordance with the decisions made by the Supreme Court in cases like Gideon v. Wainwright, Powell v. Alabama, and Argersinger v. Hamlin? If not, how can we reform the system? The right to counsel for those accused of a crime in the United States is a constitutional right. After the decision issued in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) the federal government mandated that all states were responsible for providing representation for indigent defendants. The states provide these services either through public defender programs, appointment of court cases to private attorneys, or through contracts with …

“If Justice Is Not Equal For All, It Is Not Justice”: Racial Bias, Prosecutorial Misconduct, And The Right To A Fair Trial In State V. Monday, Michael Callahan

Seattle University Law Review

This Note argues that of the three opinions from Monday, Washington state courts should follow Chief Justice Madsen’s concurring opinion. The Monday decision also raises three questions that none of the opinions adequately answer: who does Monday apply to, what conduct does Monday forbid, and what is the legal source of the rules from Monday? The court will have to answer these questions in the future to determine the scope of its new rules. Part II of this Note discusses how Washington courts previously addressed the issue of prosecutorial misconduct and appeals to racial bias in trials. Part …

Dead Wrong: Why Washington’S Deadly Weapon Criminal Sentencing Enhancement Needs “Enhancement”, James Harlan Corning

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment confronts the difficult question of how to reformulate the deadly weapon sentencing enhancement to better align it with the policy goals of deterring and punishing armed crime. Part II explores the constitutional and practical defects in each of the three formulations of the sentencing enhancement’s armed requirement by delving into the enhancement’s legislative history and the judicial struggle to interpret it. Part III analyzes the need for a more nuanced approach to the weapon enhancement by exploring key criticisms about the enhancement’s scope and application. Part IV argues that the Washington legislature must provide courts with more rigid …

Preliminary Report On Race And Washington's Criminal Justice System, Task Force On Race And The Criminal Justice System

Seattle University Law Review

For this Report, the Research Working Group reviewed evidence on disproportionality in Washington’s criminal justice system and considered whether crime commission rates accounted for this disproportionality. We found that crime commission rates by race and ethnicity are largely unknown and perhaps unknowable, but that some researchers simply take arrest rates as good proxies for underlying commission rates for all crimes.We found that use of arrest rates likely overstates black crime commission rates for several reasons.68 But even if arrest rates are used as a proxy for underlying crime commission rates, the extent of racial disproportionality is not explained by commission …

The Supreme Court: A Decade Of Opinion, Matthew A. Bahleda

Honors Theses

Conventional wisdom would have us believe that the Bush v. Gore (2000) decision marked a large change in public approval of the Supreme Court. To analyze this claim, a series of landmark cases for the years 2000-2010 will be reduced to a data set that will allow for the observation of specific variables and the roles each variable may play in determining the change in public opinion. From there, conclusions are made that substantively explicate the relations between the indicated relevant variables and the change in opinion. Ultimately, the Bush v. Gore decision is found to have not had the …

Rewiring Old Architecture: Why U.S. Courts Have Been So Slow And Uneven In Their Take-Up Of Digital Technology, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Given the centrality of information and communication to the activities and institutions of law and government it is not surprising that during the early turbulent days of the digital revolution enthusiasts imagined that the new technology would work dramatic changes on this critical sphere, changes far greater in magnitude than those flowing from such past innovations as calculators, tape recorders, or copy machines. Students of government and consultants drew analogies between transformations taking place in the private sector (the emergence of e-commerce and distributed, virtual enterprises) and what governments might or should or would become (e-government). Greater efficiency, improved accessibility …

Proposal To Reverse The View Of A Confession: From Key Evidence Requiring Corroboration To Corroboration For Key Evidence, Boaz Sangero, Mordechai Halpert

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Both case law and legal literature have recognized that all, and not just clearly statistical, evidence is probabilistic. Therefore, we have much to learn from the laws of probability with regard to the evaluation of evidence in a criminal trial. The present Article focuses on the confession. First, we review legal and psychological literature and show that the probability of a false confession and, consequently, a wrongful conviction, is far from insignificant. In light of this, we warn against the cognitive illusion, stemming from the fallacy of the transposed conditional, which is liable to mislead the trier of fact in …

Leveling Localism And Racial Inequality In Education Through The No Child Left Behind Act Public Choice Provision, Erika K. Wilson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

School district boundary lines play a pivotal role in shaping students' educational opportunities. Living on one side of a school district boundary rather than another can mean the difference between being able to attend a high-achieving resource-enriched school or having to attend a low-achieving resource-deprived school. Despite the prominent role that school district boundary lines play in dictating educational opportunities for students, remedies formulated by the federal judiciary-the institution frequently looked upon to address issues of school segregation and inequality-are ineffective in ameliorating disparities between school districts. They are ineffective because the federal judiciary evidences a doctrinal preference for localism …

Do Judicial Elections Facilitate Popular Constitutionalism; Can They?, Nicole Mansker, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Advance, Spring 2011, San Jose State University, Department Of Justice Studies

Advance (Justice Studies)

News from the San Jose State University Record Clearance Project

Improving The Odds: Changing The Perception Of Problem Gambling And Supporting The Growth Of Problem Gambling Courts, Amaia Guenaga

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

This Note will examine what problem gambling is and demonstrate the parallels between problem gambling and substance abuse. The Note will then explore the development and expansion of problem-solving courts for substance abuse and mental health and explore the pros and cons of problem gambling courts, in the end offering support for the further creation and development of problem gambling courts.

Special Court For Sierra Leone: Achieving Justice?, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Michigan Journal of International Law

The creation of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL or the Court) in early 2002 generated high expectations within the international community. The SCSL was generally deemed to herald a new model or benchmark for the assessment of future ad hoc international criminal courts. As the Court completes the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in The Hague-its last-nine years later, this Article offers an early and broad assessment of whether it has fulfilled its promise. More specifically, this Article examines whether the SCSL has achieved, or more accurately-because its trials are still ongoing-whether it is achieving justice. …

"Your Honor, May I Have That In Writing?" A Proposed Response To Violations Of The Federal Sentencing Written Reasons Requirement, Judy Ann Clausen

UF Law Faculty Publications

A disturbing trend has emerged in our federal courts. District judges are ignoring the statutory mandate to state in writing specific reasons for deviating from the range recommended by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Rather than vacating these out-of-range sentences, U.S. Courts of Appeals are affirming the sentences despite the fact that they are imposed in violation of law. This article proposes a solution to this problem.

In Part I, this article explores the historical and legal context for the written reasons requirement. Part II explores two circuit splits surrounding the written reasons requirement. Part III recommends that appellate courts adopt …

Procedure's Ambiguity, Mark Moller

Indiana Law Journal

By leaving the meaning of a statute—or procedural rule—undecided, ambiguous appellate decisions create space for lower courts to adopt a blend of conflicting approaches, yielding an average result that trims between competing preferences. While compromising in this way may seem to flout basic norms of good judging, this Article shows that opaque “compromise” opinions have plausible normative appeal, given premises about good interpretation often labeled “pluralist.” Judicial pluralists think courts should decide cases in ways interest groups would, hypothetically, accept. To demonstrate the pluralist appeal of opaque decisions, I develop, in turn, two related claims: First, interest groups, under the …

Rethinking The Sovereign Status Of The Holy See: Towards A Greater Equality Of States And Greater Protection Of Citizens In United States Courts, James Fantau

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note advocates for the reclassification of the Holy See from a sovereign state to an instrumentality under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). This change would enhance legal accountability, particularly in cases involving sexual abuse scandals, by allowing plaintiffs to sue the Holy See more effectively. The argument is based on legal tests, including the core functions test and the legal characteristics test, which suggest that the Holy See functions more as an instrumentality of the Vatican City State rather than a sovereign entity.

Abandoning Law Reports For Official Digital Case Law, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

When Is Finality . . . Final? Rehearing And Resurrection In The Supreme Court, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

"A Watchdog For The Good Of The Order": The Ninth Circuit's En Banc Coordinator, Stephen L. Wasby

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

The New Old Legal Realsim, Tracey E. George, Mitu Gulati, Ann C. Mcginley

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Judges produce opinions for numerous purposes. A judicial opinion decides a case and informs the parties whether they won or lost. But in a common law system, the most important purpose of the opinion, particularly the appellate opinion, is to educate prospective litigants, lawyers, and lower court judges about the law: what it is and how it applies to a specific set of facts. Without this purpose, courts could more quickly and efficiently issue one-sentence rulings rather than set forth reasons. By issuing opinions, courts give actors a means of evaluating whether their actions are within the bounds of law. …

Sequencing The Issues For Judicial Decisionmaking: Limitations From Jurisdictional Primacy And Intrasuit Preclusion, Kevin M. Clermont

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article treats the order of decision on multiple issues in a single case. That order can be very important, with a lot at stake for the court, society, and parties. Generally speaking, although the parties can control which issues they put before a judge, the judge gets to choose the decisional sequence in light of those various interests.

The law sees fit to put few limits on the judge's power to sequence. The few limits are, in fact, quite narrow in application, and even narrower if properly understood. The Steel Co.-Ruhrgas rule generally requires a federal court to decide …