Federal Courts

Academic Feeder Judges: Are clerkships the key to academia?

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Vol. 105 No. 1 (2021) | The Courts Held

Click here to download this article’s accompanying appendix. The legal community is familiar with “feeder judges” — federal lower-court (primarily court of appeals) judges who have a substantial number of […]

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At Least Do The Easy Stuff

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Vol. 105 No. 1 (2021) | The Courts Held

In these two examples, I have done very little rewriting. I simply used plain words and cut unnecessary words (including the egregiously unnecessary parentheticals). And in the second one, I […]

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2020 Election Litigation: The Courts Held

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Vol. 105 No. 1 (2021) | The Courts Held

We had an extraordinary election in November 2020. More Americans voted than in any other election, even though an infectious virus still stalked the nation. Immediately following election day, we […]

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Judicial Honors (Spring 2017)

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Vol. 101 No. 1 (2017) | Citizen-centered Courts

Senior Judge MICHAEL M. BAYLSON of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania received the James Wilson Award from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in honor […]

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A Model Trial Judge: U.S. District Judge Sim Lake

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Vol. 101 No. 1 (2017) | Citizen-centered Courts

(Judge Jennifer Elrod is is pictured above with Judge Lake on the day he swore her into the Texas bar in 1992; photo courtesy Jennifer Elrod.) Born on the last Independence […]

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Judicial Excellence after Earl Warren

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Vol. 101 No. 1 (2017) | Citizen-centered Courts

Judging the performance of Supreme Court Justices is a tricky business. Nearly everyone would agree that the justices should sustain the ideal of “Equal Justice Under Law,” the motto inscribed […]

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Foundations of U.S. Federalism

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Vol. 101 No. 1 (2017) | Citizen-centered Courts

What precisely is American federalism? In their seminal work on federal jurisdiction, Felix Frankfurter and Wilber Katz allude to a “dynamic struggle” between federal and state power, the ebb and […]

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Amended Rule 37(e): What’s New and What’s Next in Spoliation?

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Vol. 101 No. 2 (2017) | Can science save justice?

AMENDED RULE 37(e) OF THE FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE (“RULE 37(e)”) BECAME EFFECTIVE ON DEC. 1, 2015. It emerged as a pithy and focused restatement of the best thinking […]

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A better first paragraph, please

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Vol. 101 No. 2 (2017) | Can science save justice?

Start strong. Our writing guru, Joseph Kimble, breaks down an opinion’s first paragraph to show a better way. Original Pending before the Court is a letter motion by plaintiff Amy […]

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Judicial Honors Fall/Winter 2020–21

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Vol. 104 No. 3 (2020-21) | Judges on the March

Justice Michelle Keller of the Supreme Court of Kentucky received the Kentucky Bar Association’s Distinguished Judge Award. The award honors a judge who has made outstanding contributions to the legal […]

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