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Public disenchantment with the judiciary has taken on such a confrontational tone that the legal community fears its is compromising judicial independence and the ABA has announced the establishment of a Commission on Separation of Powers and Judicial Independence to study the matter. State court judges get much of the criticism since criminal rulings draw much of the political criticism. The ABA has opposed term limits and pushed for merit selection for judges.

Judges who have made the move from the practice of law to the bench have certain rules of thumb for lawyers interested in maintaining their credibility with the bench. They advise lawyers to try always to maintain their composure, to admit their weaknesses and not to focus on every minor issue just for the sake of argument. Lawyers should not forget to tailor computer-generated research to the specific case they are working on. Rules of thumb for appellate lawyers are also given.

Judicial interpretation of legislative intent must include how congressional structures and law-making procedures influence both a law's explicit and implicit purpose. The US Supreme Court in Chevron, USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council correctly defined the role of judges in interpreting ambiguous legislation as that of divining congressional intent and deferring to administrative agencies' authorized powers and responsibilities, but the Court placed too much emphasis on legislative history as the source of legislative intent and not enough on the nature of the political process.

Judicial independence goes to the heart of the democratic principles that support our liberty. It has been consistently eroded by attacks from those with political motivations, occasionally leading to the [...]

When a judge sits in judgment over a fellow man, he should feel as if a sword is pointed at his own heart. (1) It has never been easy to [...]

It was some idle Tuesday afternoon around 4:00 p.m. when I ran across my friend, Judge Jordan, who was a judge for the Cook County, Illinois, Circuit Court. Judge Jordan [...]

Task forces find that federal judges tend to take an uncharitable view of gender bias cases. The findings included gender-biased incivility while in court, few women in management positions among courtroom employees even though most employees were female, and no written employment policies prohibiting sexual harassment as well as procedures to deal with complaints of bias. The studies did not address how attitudes affected the outcomes of cases, but do cause doubt about the fairness of the system.

The ABA Commission on the Separation of Powers and Judicial Independence was created in Summ 1996 after political criticism of judges threatened to become too vicious and is trying to help find a balance between the judicial, executive and legislative branches of government. Politicians and lobbyists have criticized judges for decisions they did not like, and the disagreements have recently become more partisan and personal.