Archive: July 2025

Illustration of five diverse hands interacting with interlocking gears of various sizes, symbolizing teamwork, collaboration, and systems working together. The background is composed of overlapping dark teal shapes, enhancing the sense of motion and unity.

Reviving Rules 16 and 26

Rule 16 (on pretrial conferences and scheduling) and Rule 26 (on disclosures and discovery) give judges important tools to improve case management. Here’s how they should use them. Click here […]

Illustration of a classical courthouse with four white columns, a triangular pediment, and a wide staircase. The structure is set against a blue background with a long diagonal shadow, symbolizing justice, authority, and civic institutions.

Staying Safe: Five Steps Judges Can Take Now

Judges have always been subject to scrutiny, second-guessing, and threats. But as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. noted in his 2024 year-end report, the U.S. Marshals Service has reported […]

Illustration of a virtual team meeting. A man sits at a desk with a laptop, gesturing toward a glowing light bulb in the center, symbolizing a shared idea. The background is bright pink, and the scene conveys remote collaboration and idea-sharing.

Technology for Remote and Hybrid Hearings: Lessons From NCSC’s Court Innovation Lab

The Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) have long underscored the need for technological innovation in the court system, especially the need for courts […]

Cartoon of maze with arrow transversing it

Alternative Approaches: Beyond Problem-Solving Courts

Problem-solving courts were born out of a well-meaning experimentalist spirit, a spirit that is very much in line with the vision of a recent symposium on the multidoor criminal courthouse. […]

Cartoon of four people fitting puzzle pieces together

Trauma-Informed Courts? How Judges May Influence Kids’ Experiences of Court

Research tells us that there are inextricable links between trauma and the juvenile justice system. Not only is trauma prevalent among system-involved youth (up to 90 percent report exposure to […]

Archive photo of North Carolina's copy of the U.S. Bill of Rights

Bringing Home the Bill of Rights

I am honored to be the 30th chief justice of the state of North Carolina and to have served on my state’s highest court since 2004. I’ve also practiced law, […]

Human upper body and head front view on a dark concrete background: a glowing and vibrant aura of light explosion covers the face, hiding facial features with a network of gleaming round light particles. Pink, red and orange light burst. Horizontal composition, digitally generated image.

The Battle for Your Brain: A Legal Scholar’s Argument for Protecting Brain Data and Cognitive Liberty

Mindreading may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but these days, as they say, truth is stranger than fiction. Employers track employee attention and even moods. Technology users can […]

Judge Dorothy Wright Nelson’s Prescient, Bold Vision of Justice

I began reading this book because of the great respect, affection, and admiration I have for my esteemed colleague, the Honorable Dorothy Nelson, senior circuit judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. […]

Minimize prepositional phrases. Question every of. (Part 1; PDF)

Group of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) standing in front of a flowering rapeseed field.

If Pseudonyms, Then What Kind?

Writers may have their noms de plume; revolutionaries may have noms de guerre. Here, though, we will speak of (to coin a phrase) the noms de litige, and ask: When […]