Dec

31

Recession Injuries Reach the Legal Emergency Room

Posted by: | December 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment

No one would be surprised to learn the work of the courts relates to the economy, but it’s nevertheless intriguing to see how the courts have taken up “clean-up” work related to the recent economic collapse.  According to a report in the New York Times on December 28, 2009, the courts have a huge number [...]

Dec

26

We Elect Judges, Don’t We?

Posted by: | December 26, 2009 | 3 Comments

It is hardly a revelation, but the  Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel has done a study demonstrating that a bit more than half of the circuit judges in the five county area assume the bench by appointment, rather than election. This is an important aspect of judicial selection in our state and the paper [...]

Dec

22

Garcetti in Higher Education? Not So Fast

Posted by: | December 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Thanks to Dennis Nolan (South Carolina) for bringing to my attention this decision from California discussing whether the Garcetti First Amendment free speech case applies in the higher education context.  Garcetti held that public employees speaking pursuant to their job duties have no First Amendment free speech protection. F.I.R.E. (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) [...]

Dec

21

New Study Adds to the Debate Surrounding Ideological Divides and the United States Supreme Court

Posted by: | December 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The New York Times published an article detailing the results of a new study regarding the career paths of former United States Supreme Court clerks.  The study finds that “former clerks have started to take jobs that reflect the ideologies of the justices for whom they worked.”  The data collected show a shift in the [...]

Dec

21

Incarceration Nation

Posted by: | December 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

Despite the increasingly audible calls for changes in policy, we should not lose sight of the extent and nature of imprisonment in the United States.  As of 1975, only .01% of the population was imprisoned, but the percentage has grown every year since then and now stands at almost .05%.  We as a nation have [...]

Dec

17

Accurate & Balanced Reporting on the Wisconsin Supreme Court

Posted by: | December 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has received a fair bit of coverage from the news and editorial desks of the state’s media outlets over the past five years. Sometimes the editorial writers have criticized particular decisions in cases, sometimes particular campaign statements, and sometimes the overall structure of the court. This morning’s news story by the [...]

Dec

17

President Obama Nominates Marquette Lawyer to Fourth Circuit

Posted by: | December 17, 2009 | 1 Comment

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on President Obama’s nomination of a Marquette lawyer—the Hon. James A. Wynn, Jr., L’79—to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Judge Wynn is a longtime member of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and he has retained strong ties to [...]

Dec

16

Seventh Circuit Demands “Intellectual Discipline” at Sentencing

Posted by: | December 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment

It’s almost like Judge Easterbrook read my article.  I have a forthcoming piece in the Marquette Law Review arguing that appellate courts ought generally to demand more rigor of trial judges in explaining their sentences and specifically to require greater attention to objective benchmarks.  Not surprisingly, I was quite pleased to read the Seventh Circuit’s opinion earlier this week [...]

Dec

14

Political Clout and the Lack Thereof

Posted by: | December 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

It’s a basic tenet of American political systems that there are checks and balances, with each branch of a government unit  operating with powers that are not controlled by other branches. Consider what is about to unfold in the Wisconsin Legislature a particularly vivid lesson in that. Gov. Jim Doyle has called a special session [...]

Dec

14

Natural Law and Legal Education

Posted by: | December 14, 2009 | 4 Comments

Last week a student contacted me via email to say he was having difficulty preparing for my exam.  His nervousness, the student said, derived from training as a “law-student machine” whose job was to memorize and regurgitate rules.  He feared that my exam would ask him to do something different than that. I think the [...]

Dec

13

Add Judges To The List of Professionals Who Must Take Care In Using Facebook

Posted by: | December 13, 2009 | 6 Comments

Professor Lisa Mazzie posted a blog entry back in September about the use of Facebook and other social networking websites by lawyers.  The post shed light on the trouble an attorney can face when the substance of his or her webpage falls short of professional standards.  As Professor Mazzie explained, postings that “criticize” judges, “reveal” [...]

Dec

10

The Wages of Speech

Posted by: | December 10, 2009 | 2 Comments

Apparently, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is not the only one sharply divided on an array of issues and fighting over questions of recusal. In Michigan, the Supreme Court voted 4-3 to require that individual justices who have denied a motion to recuse themselves explain the reason in writing and to permit the Court to overrule the refusal [...]

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