Judicial Campaign Talking Blues, Part 1

March law review madness has pretty much kept me from getting my blog on, so I have a whole slew of pontification on back order.

One of the things I am wondering about is campaign rhetoric in judicial elections. We all hate it, but why?

I have been thinking about it through the lens offered by one of my favorite law school professors, Duncan Kennedy. He said that there were two species of error in the way that non-lawyers think about the law. One is lay cynicism — the idea that judges do whatever they want to and that judging was just politics by another name. (There was, of course, a sense in which Duncan believed this — probably still does — but it was at a structural rather than decisional level.) 

One of the things that I think we hate about many judicial campaign ads is that they appeal to this lay cynicism.

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Congratulations to the Winners of the Jenkins Competition

The finale of this year’s Jenkins Moot Court Competition took place this evening, in the spectacular ceremonial courtroom of the Federal Courthouse.

Each of the four competitors who advanced from the semifinals, Alyssa Dowse and Timothy Sheehey, and Jessica Farley and Brent Simerson, gave a terrific performance.  The panel of judges (Judge Lynn S. Adelman presiding in his own courtroom; Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Patience D. Roggensack; and North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge and Marquette alum James Wynn Jr.) was active in its questioning of both teams, but the advocates stood their ground at every turn.  I would have had a very difficult time ranking the competitors, were I on that panel.

After the arguments were complete and the scores were calculated, the winners were the Petitioners, Alyssa Dowse and Timothy Sheehey.  At the reception afterwards, in addition to recognizing the first- and second-place teams, Dean Kearney announced the other two prizes in the competition.  This year’s Ramon A. Klitzke Prize for Best Oral Advocate went to Alyssa Dowse.  Finally, the Franz Eschweiler Award for Best Brief was shared by teammates Joseph Brydges and Timothy Hassel.

Congratulations to the first-place and second-place teams, the Best Oral Advocate, and the team that wrote the Best Brief.  Indeed, congratulations to all of the students who had the honor of participating in Jenkins. And many thanks to the moot court board and executive board members and the faculty, staff, and alumni of the law school who helped with the competition.  As the Dean noted at the reception, it was especially gratifying to see so many alums of the moot court program at the argument this evening.

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Marquette’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition Team Advances in Finals

The Marquette NAAC Moot Court team advanced through the first day of competition at the national finals in Chicago on April 2.  The team is one of 24 teams to have made it to the finals from the six regional rounds held across the country.  The finals are being held at the federal district court in Chicago.  Sixteen teams will be competing in the octafinal round on April 3.  

Congratulations to team members Stephen Boyett, Carrie Devitt, and Jessica Franklin.

Continue ReadingMarquette’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition Team Advances in Finals