A Finer Point
Civics Education, Federal Courts
The Chief Justice’s Ceremonial(ish) Inauguration Role
Vol. 108 No. 3 (2025) | Problem-Solving CourtsPictured Above: President William McKinley’s inauguration was the first recorded on film; here he is sworn in by Chief Justice Melville Fuller with outgoing President Grover Cleveland at right. March […]
Law & Culture
Junior-Attorney Training and Use of the Judicial Power
Vol. 108 No. 2 (2024) | Judges Under Siege?In 2023, the American Bar Association passed a resolution urging judges to allow a second lawyer to present at oral argument if he or she has practiced for ten or […]
Court Administration, Law & Culture
Better Services for Familiar Faces
by Briana H. Zamora and Michael Boggs
Vol. 108 No. 1 (2024) | Harnessing AI for JusticeUnderstanding mental illness and addiction is rarely thought of as part of the necessary education for judges. Yet judges throughout our country are continually forced to confront the effects of […]
Law & Culture
And the Oscar goes to . . . courtroom dramas!
by Lucy Inman
Vol. 107 No. 3 (2024) | JustitiaActor Jack Nicholson’s witness-stand response to Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men is one of the most quoted lines from one of the most popular genres of film — the courtroom drama. […]
Law & Culture
Not Just Umpires — Justices Are Fans, Too.
Vol. 107 No. 2 (2023) | Generative AI in the CourtsThe Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on baseball began in 1922 with a unanimous ruling in an anti-trust case, Federal Baseball Club v. National League, that holds to this day. But the Court’s relationship with baseball isn’t just through its cases. The men and women who have served on the Court include many committed baseball fans. […]
Law & Culture, State Courts
Renaming Maryland’s Appellate Courts
Vol. 107 No. 1 (2023) | Toward Fairer, Quicker, Cheaper LitigationWhat’s in a name? According to Maryland’s voters, there’s something to it. […]
Global, Law & Culture
Justice for All: Artwork by Natasha Ramras (PDF)
Vol. 106 No. 3 (2023) | Forging New TrailsNatasha Ramras is an Oregon/Washington painter who uses acrylic and oil to capture the beauty of the Pacific Northwest in her landscapes and the salient issues of the day in her contemporary works. […]
International, Law & Culture
Legal Tradition — Or Symbol of Subjugation?
Vol. 106 No. 2 (2022) | Losing faith?Recently a huge controversy erupted in Zimbabwe over the alleged purchase of British horsehair wigs for Zimbabwean judges. Given the financial challenges ordinary Zimbabweans face, it was not surprising that […]
Judging, Law & Culture
A Poem: Substance Abuse Trial (PDF)
by Jane Mead
Vol. 106 No. 1 (2022) | Necessarily EngagedSubstance Abuse Trial He mispronounces you, the judge, rhyming your first with your second name, making you into something ridiculous: Gillis Willis Mead. But you stand as still as they […]
Judging, Law & Culture
Learned Hand’s Spirit of Liberty: A Lesson for Our Times
Vol. 105 No. 3 (2021) | Leaving AfghanistanChief Judge D. Brooks Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reflects on the lessons of unity and tolerance embedded in Judge Learned Hand’s famous “Spirit of Liberty” speech.