State Courts
Briefs
Crossing the line? Recent ethics cases show that the line between personal and judicial conduct can be blurred
by Cynthia Gray
Vol. 100 No. 3 (2016) | Who appointed me god?Not all extrajudicial conduct on which the public may frown has been considered sanctionable in judicial discipline proceedings; after all, as Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in The Strange Case of Dr. […]
Feature
The Fluidity of Judicial Coalitions
by Dimitris Georgakopoulos, Frank Sullivan Jr. and Nicholas L. Georgakopoulos
Vol. 100 No. 3 (2016) | Who appointed me god?A surprising look at coalitions within the supreme courts of the United States and Indiana In June 2001, the United States Supreme Court decided three closely watched deportation cases by […]
Briefs
Up, Down, All Around
Vol. 100 No. 3 (2016) | Who appointed me god?Legislative proposals to change state supreme court compositions gaining popularity The last decade has seen a dramatic uptick in legislative efforts to change the composition of state courts of last […]
Briefs
How the States Avoid Supreme Stalemates
Vol. 100 No. 4 (2016) | Steady As She GoesState high courts avoid tie votes in a variety of ways, some more juris-prudent than others. Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing portends a seismic realtering of the Supreme Court’s ideological balance. […]
From the Editor in Chief
From the Editor-in-Chief Cheri Beasley
Vol. 100 No. 4 (2016) | Steady As She GoesThe ability to pay court fines, including jail and prison fees, has remained an issue since Michigan first authorized the imposition of correctional fees in 1846.1 Today, many courts order […]
Feature
Money or Justice? How Fees and Fines Have Contributed to Distrust and What Chief Justices Can Do About It
by David F. Levi, Nathan Hecht, Patricia Breckenridge, Maureen O'Connor, Martin Hoshino and Mary McQueen
Vol. 100 No. 4 (2016) | Steady As She GoesDuke Law Dean David F. Levi recently convened a roundtable discussion among leaders of a national task force that aims to study and address the courts’ role in the problems […]
Feature
Judges Can Fix the System: Here’s How
by Ed Spillane
Vol. 100 No. 4 (2016) | Steady As She GoesMelissa J. Showed up in my court last year with four kids in tow. Her children quietly watched from a nearby table while I spoke with her. The charges against […]
Briefs
Disorder in the Courts: The varied ways states establish and oversee courts presents challenges for reform
Vol. 100 No. 4 (2016) | Steady As She GoesLimited jurisdiction courts are coming under new scrutiny and criticism amid calls for criminal justice reform. The Department of Justice’s report on police and court practices in the city of […]
Redlines
At Least Do The Easy Stuff (PDF)
Vol. 105 No. 1 (2021) | The Courts HeldIn 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 […]
Feature
What do Americans want in their state judges?
Vol. 105 No. 1 (2021) | The Courts HeldAs scholars regularly document, states have frequently changed their systems of judicial selection and retention. What remains unknown is whether these systems actually address the kinds of qualities citizens value […]