Courts and Judicial Policymaking

Illustrations  

 

Tables    

 

Sidebars   

 

Section I: The Nature of Law

 

CHAPTER 1. Legal Systems and Sources of Law

 

Legal Systems             

 

            Civil Law, Common Law, Ideological Legal Systems, Religious Legal Systems, Customary and “Mixed” Legal Systems    

 

The Nature and Sources of Law          

           

            Public Law, Private Law          

 

CHAPTER 2. The Politics of Law and Jurisprudence   

 

Classical Theories of Jurisprudence      

 

            Natural Law, Legal Positivism, Sociological Jurisprudence and Legal Realism   

 

Contemporary Theories of Jurisprudence  

 

            Economics in Law and Pragmatism, Feminist Jurisprudence, Critical Legal and Race Perspectives

 

            Controversies Over Courts: How Should Judges Interpret the Constitution? 

 

The Rule of Law and the Judicial Process         

 

            In Comparative Perspective: Constitutional Courts in Europe  

 

Section II:  Court Organization and Operation       

 

CHAPTER 3. Judicial Organization, Structure, and Administration   

 

The Origins of U.S. Courts   

           

            The 1798 Judiciary Act, The Growth of the Federal Judiciary  

 

Contemporary Judicial Federalism: State and Federal Courts   

           

            State Judiciaries, The Federal Judiciary    

           

            In Comparative Perspective: Courts in South and Southeast Asia       

 

The Politics of Judicial Administration    

 

            State Court Administration, The Administration of the Federal Judiciary 

 

The Politics of Judicial Reform in the 21^st Century         

 

            Controversies over Courts: Should the Public Finance State Judicial Elections?          

 

Chapter 4. Judicial Recruitment, Retention, and Removal        

 

State Judicial Selection   

 

            Controversies over Courts: Are State Judicial Campaigns and Elections Too Partisan?   

 

Federal Judicial Selection   

 

            The Framers and Judicial Selection, Ideology or Merit?, The Nomination Process, The Confirmation Process    

 

Towards A Representative Bench and a Career Judiciary?       

 

            A Representative Bench?, Leaving the Bench

           

            In Comparative Perspective: The Career Judiciary in Japan    

 

Section III: Influences on Judicial Access and Decision-Making     

 

Chapter 5. The Practice of Law    

 

The Rise of the American Legal Profession         

 

Contemporary Legal Education and Bar Admission        

 

The Business of Legal Practice    

 

            Private Practice, Government Attorneys, Corporate Legal Practice, Public Interest Lawyers and Legal Academia            

 

Access to Lawyers and Equal Justice               

 

            The Right to Counsel in Criminal Cases, Legal Representation in Civil Litigation, Government Subsidized Legal Aid, Pro Se Representation, Pro Bono Legal Services

 

Chapter 6. Access to Courts   

 

Formal Barriers           

 

Discretionary Barriers     

 

            The Law of Standing,    Mootness and Ripeness, The Political Question Doctrine          

           

            Controversies Over Courts: Is the Federal Judiciary Too Small to Provide Equal  Access to Justice?          

 

Organized Interests and Strategic Litigation      

           

            Interest Group Politics and Litigation Strategies  

           

            In Comparative Perspective: Comparative Constitutional Law and Capital Punishment      

 

Chapter 7. The Adversarial Process and Criminal Procedure 

 

The Adversarial Process    

 

            Trials: Truth or Fight Theory?   

 

Prosecutorial Discretion: From Arrest to Trial  

 

            Initial Appearance, Preliminary Hearings and Grand Jury Indictments, Formal Arraignment, Plea Bargaining 

 

The Jury’s Role    

 

            The Democratic Politics of Citizen-Juries            

 

            In Comparative Perspective: Jury Systems Around the World

 

            Controversies Over Courts: What is the Role of Courts in Times of Crisis and Wartime?        

 

The Politics of the Post-Trial Sentencing Process          

 

            The Growth of Determinate Structured Sentencing

 

Chapter 8. Civil Litigation          

 

The Civil Trial Process 

 

            The Nature of Civil Litigation, Civil Procedure  

 

            Alternative Dispute Resolution   

 

            In Comparative Perspective: Transnational Courts - Quasi-Judicial Tribunals Under NAFTA 

 

Section IV: Judicial Policymaking   

 

Chapter 9. Judicial Decision-Making and Behavior   

 

The Appellate Decision-Making Process            

            Agenda Setting, Oral Argument, Judicial Conferences, Opinion Writing  

            

            Controversies Over Courts: Should Unpublished Judicial Opinions Count as Precedents?      

 

Studying Judicial Decision-Making    

                       

            The Attitudinal Model, New Institutionalism, Strategic Choice Theory, Legal Reasoning and Interpretative Approaches, The Law and Politics of Legal Precedent

 

Statutory Interpretation

 

            Statutory Construction and Administrative Regulation  

 

Constitutional Interpretation     

 

            The Methods of Constitutional Interpretation, The Sources of Constitutional Interpretation  

 

Chapter 10.  The Scope and Limits of Judicial Power         

 

Judicial Policy-Making    

 

            State Judicial Policymaking: Equality in Educational Financing Cases, Federal Judicial Policymaking: Privacy Rights and Abortion Politics   

           

            In Comparative Perspective: The European Court of Justice and The Globalization of Judicial Power   

 

The Impact of Judicial Decisions              

 

            The Politics of Gay Rights and Same Sex Marriages: A Case Study 

 

The Limitations of Judicial Power    

 

            Internal Constraints, External Restraints

 

            Controversies Over Courts: Do Courts Forge Major Social Change?

ILLUSTRATIONS

 

3.1. The United States Court System    

 

3.2. State Court Organization    

 

3.3. California’s Unified Court System    

 

3.4. Ohio’s Non-Unified Court System     

 

3.5. Geographical Boundaries of the U.S. Court System   

 

3.6. The Organization of Judicial Administration in the United States    

 

4.1. The Nomination and Confirmation Process for Federal Judges   

 

7.1. The Stages of Trial and the Presentation of Evidence    

 

7.2. The Criminal Trial and Appeal Process    

 

8.1. The Civil Trial and Appeal Process     

 

9.1. The Process of Appellate Decision-Making     

 

9.2. Research Methodologies for Studying Judicial Politics   

 

10.1. Judicial Compliance and Impact    

TABLES

 

1.1. Major Global Legal Systems 

 

1.2. Types of Law  

 

3.1. Landmark Judicial Administration Legislation  

 

3.2. A Comparison of the State and Federal Judiciary   

 

3.3. Type of State Courts  

 

3.4. State Trial Court Docket   

 

3.5. U.S. District Court Caseload and Docket Composition, 1960-2004   

 

3.6. Nature of Civil Actions and Criminal Offenses in U.S. District Court, 2000-2004    

 

3.7. U.S. Courts of Appeals Docket Composition and Source of Appeals, 1988-2004  

 

4.1. Judicial Selection Methods in the States   

 

4.2. Federal Judicial Selection Methods During Modern Presidencies   

 

4.3. Unsuccessful U.S. Supreme Court Nominations   

 

4.4. The Duration of the Confirmation Process in Lower Federal Court Nominations     

 

4.5. Demographic Characteristics of U.S. District Court Appointees     

 

4.6. Demographic Characteristics of U.S. Court of Appeals’ Appointees    

 

4.7. Judicial Salaries of State and Federal Judges   

 

5.1. Demand for Legal Education, 1964-2005    

 

5.2. Legal Profession Occupations, By Gender and Position    

 

5.3. Top “Megafirms” in the United States    

 

5.4. Salient Differences in Legal Representation in Indigent Criminal Cases   

 

7.1. Trial Court Characteristics in Adversary and Inquisitorial Legal Systems   

 

7.2. Constitutional Protections in Criminal Cases   

 

7.3. Criminal Convictions Resulting from Trials and Pleas in State Felony Cases  

 

7.4. Sentencing Typologies and Practices   

 

8.1. Number of Tort and Contract Trials and Median Jury Awards to Plaintiffs    

 

8.2. Alternative Dispute Resolution and Settlement Practices    

 

9.1. Appeals Terminated After Oral Hearing in U.S. Courts of Appeals   

 

9.2. Types of Judicial Opinions   

 

9.3. Appeals Terminated Without Published Opinion in U.S. Courts of Appeals   

 

9.4. Select Categories of Legal or Political Variables Used to Explain or Predict Judicial Decisions   

 

9.5. Voting Alignments in the Rehnquist Court, 1986-2004  

 

9.6. Rehnquist Court Voting Blocs, By Natural Court, 1994-2004    

 

9.7. Interpretative Methods of Statutory Construction    

 

10.1. Constitutional Amendments Overturning Unpopular U.S. Supreme Court Decisions   

 

SIDEBARS

1.1. Inquisitorial and Adversarial Systems    

 

1.2. Researching the Law and Judicial Decisions   

 

3.1. Tribal Courts        

 

3.2. United States Magistrates    

 

4.1. Should Judges Make Direct Appeals to Voters During Judicial Campaigns?   

 

4.2. The Federalist Society’s Role in the Modern Confirmation Process

 

5.1. The Poor State of Indigent Defense Systems in the States  

 

6.1. The Ashwander Rules of Constitutional Avoidance

 

6.2. “Public Interest” Lawsuits in the United States and Abroad

 

7.1. Plea Bargaining Practices in the United States and Continental Europe   

 

7.2. Jury Nullification     

 

8.1. The Politics of Class Actions         

 

9.1. The U.S. Solicitor General

 

10.1. Judicial Activism and Restraint         

 

10.2. The Battle over School Funding in the States