Judicial Independence at the Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Approach

by Stephen B. Burbank (Editor), Barry Friedman (Editor)

Overview

Concerned that scholars in various disciplines were talking past each other and that policy debates concerning judicial independence were impoverished, the editors convened a conference of scholars from the disciplines of law, political science, history, economics and sociology. Judicial Independence at the Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Approach is a collection of essays reflecting the disciplinary perspectives of the authors and the shared understanding that emerged from the conference.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761926566
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	04/23/2002
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Stephen B. Burbank is the David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Professor Burbank served as law clerk to Justice Robert Braucher of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and to Chief Justice Warren Burger. He was General Counsel of the University of Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1980. Professor Burbank is the author of numerous articles on federal court rulemaking, complex litigation, international civil litigation and judicial independence and accountability. He was the principal author of Rule 11 in Transition: The Report of the Third Circuit Task Force on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 (American Judicature Society 1989) and a principal author of the Report of the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal (1993). Professor Burbank is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Judicature Society, for which he also serves on the editorial committee, as chair of the amicus committee, and as co-chair of the Center for Judicial Independence Task Force. He has served as a Visiting Professor at the law schools of Goethe University (Frankfurt, Germany), Harvard University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pavia (Italy).

Barry Friedman (A.B. 1978, University of Chicago; J.D. 1982, Georgetown University) is a Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, where he writes and teaches in the areas of constitutional law, federal jurisdiction, and criminal procedure. His areas of specialty are judicial review and federalism. His most recent project has been an extended political history of judicial review. From there he is turning to a project discussing the difficulty with modeling judicial review; this project delves deeply into the empirical and game theoretic literature on the subject. Professor Friedman also practices law, both privately and pro bono, and has litigated in all levels of the state and federal courts, including on issues of judicial independence and federalism. He has testified before Congress on the same subjects. He speaks regularly at judicial conferences, at academic gatherings, and before other groups. Friedman is completing a term of over eight years as an officer and executive committee member of the American Judicature Society. He remains the co-chair of AJS' Task Force on Judicial Independence.

Table of Contents

Reconsidering Judicial Independence
Introduction - Stephen B. Burbank, Barry Friedman & Deborah Goldberg
Reconsidering Judicial Independence - Stephen B. Burbank & Barry Friedman
The Meaning of Judicial Independence: Theoretical Dimensions
Is Judicial Independence a Useful Concept? - Lewis A. Kornhauser
Independence as a Governance Mechanism - Edward Rubin
Theory and Evidence
Does Judicial Independence Exist? The Lessons of Social Science Research - Terri Jennings Peretti
Judicial Independence: How Can You Tell It When You See It? And, Who Cares? - Charles M. Cameron
Behavioral Factors Affecting Judicial Independence - Charles H. Franklin
Customary Independence - Charles Gardner Geyh
Comparative Dimensions
Selecting Selection Systems - Lee Epstein, Jack Knight & Olga Shvetsova
Declarations of Independence - Kim Lane Schepple
Appendix: Conference Participants
Index
About the Editors
About the Contributors
Appendix A: Conference Participants

Editorial Reviews

"The authors provide an excellent examination of judicial independence that tends to raise more questions than answers…a fascinating book that raises important questions about a concept that is often used, but that is poorly understood… I would highly recommend this book for all scholars of public law because of its richness of information as well as how the essays call into question the common assumptions about what judicial independence is and how it can be protected"

The Law and Politics Book Review