American Judicial Politics

by Stumpf, Harry P.

• ISBN13: 9780130334657
• ISBN10: 0130334650
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-07-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

KEY BENEFIT: This book on the American judicial system encourages readers to seriously consider the way we think about law, politics, and society. Providing the most extensive study of jurisprudence available, it offers important perspectives for understanding how and why law works the way it does in the American political context; succinctly presents the main currents of contemporary legal thought for an in-depth study of American law and courts; endeavors to cover each and every significant subject, issue, and research area common to the subfield of law and courts in contemporary American political science; and contains exceptionally through documentation throughout. It describes and analyzes key elements of the judicial process, including the selection of judges at both the state and federal levels; the history and structure of the American judicial system; the trial process in both civil and criminal courts, the implementation of judicial decisions; and the role of the judiciary in American politics and society. It also adds material on feminist jurisprudence, racial theory, and the "new constitutive" view of law, and includes the latest findings and figures on caseflow in the U.S. Supreme Court, law school enrollments, crime statistics, and more. For political scientists, lawyers, and those interested in the American government and constitutional law.

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	xiii	(4)
Preface to the First Edition	xvii	(2)
Preface to the Second Edition	xix
PART I THE JUDICIAL SETTING	1	(126)
1 Jurisprudence Old and New: Conceptions of Law and the Judicial Function	3	(25)
Jurisprudence	5	(19)
The Natural Law Tradition	6	(2)
Analytical or Positivist Jurisprudence	8	(3)
Sociological-Jurisprudence	11	(2)
Legal Realism	13	(4)
Political Jurisprudence	17	(5)
Behavioral Jurisprudence	22	(2)
Conclusions	24	(3)
Further Reading	27	(1)
2 Political Jurisprudence Reconsidered	28	(37)
Political Jurisprudence: A Focus on Process	28	(3)
Movements and Countermovements: Post-Realism, Legal Education, and Political Jurisprudence	31	(12)
Critical Legal Studies	34	(2)
Value-Enunciating Positions: The Search for a Touchstone of Constitutional Interpretation	36	(2)
Law and Economics (L E)	38	(2)
Feminist Jurisprudence	40	(2)
Critical Race Theory	42	(1)
The Law and Language Movement	42	(1)
Post-Realism and Political Science	43	(5)
The New Institutionalism	44	(1)
The Princeton School	45	(2)
The Constitutive View of Law	47	(1)
The Myth of Neutrality and Formalism	48	(2)
Judicial Policy-Making	50	(8)
Courts: A Reconsideration	58	(3)
Legal Systems	61	(3)
The Common Law	61	(2)
The Civil Law	63	(1)
Further Reading	64	(1)
3 State Judicial Organization	65	(29)
Judicial Business in the States	66	(5)
State Court Systems	71	(16)
The Colonial Experience	71	(3)
State Courts Under the Constitution	74	(13)
The Politics of Structure	87	(6)
Further Reading	93	(1)
4 The Federal Courts	94	(35)
Historical Development	94	(5)
The Federal Judiciary Today	99	(20)
The District Courts	99	(3)
The United States Courts of Appeals	102	(2)
The United States Supreme Court	104	(11)
Specialized Federal Courts	115	(3)
Other Specialized Federal Courts	118	(1)
Federal Judicial Administration	119	(4)
Judicial Federalism	123	(2)
Further Reading	125	(2)
PART II JUDICIAL PERSONNEL	127	(132)
5 The Politics of Judicial Selection: The State Experience	129	(40)
The Political Culture of Judicial Selection	129	(4)
Judicial Selection Systems in the States	133	(8)
An Analysis of State Selection Systems	141	(12)
The Missouri Plan	141	(6)
Judicial Elections	147	(3)
Some Conclusions	150	(3)
State Judges: A Profile	153	(10)
A Note on Tenure and Removal	163	(4)
Further Reading	167	(2)
6 Federal Judicial Selection	169	(47)
Federal District and Appellate Judges: The Force of Senatorial Patronage	171	(17)
Politics	174	(3)
Professional Competence	177	(2)
The Carter Reforms	179	(4)
The Reagan and Bush Legacy	183	(1)
The Advice and Consent of the Senate	184	(3)
Gender and Race on Federal Courts	187	(1)
The Clinton Administration, First Term	188	(2)
The Supreme Court	190	(18)
The Choices of Recent Presidents	191	(6)
Politics, Partisan, and Otherwise	197	(4)
Professional Merit	201	(3)
Other Factors	204	(1)
The Senate	205	(3)
Tenure and Turnover	208	(7)
Further Reading	215	(1)
7 The Politics of Legal Advice	216	(43)
The Attorney Role(s)	217	(3)
The American Legal Profession: A Profile	220	(5)
The Legal Profession to 1870	225	(5)
Legal Education in America	230	(10)
The Organization of the Bar	240	(13)
The Distribution of Legal Services: The Unmet Need	244	(9)
Professional Stratification	253	(5)
Further Reading	258	(1)
PART III THE JUDICIAL PROCESS	259	(150)
8 The Civil Judicial Process	261	(39)
Grievances to Disputes: The Transformation Process	263	(7)
Parties	269	(1)
Substance of Grievance	269	(1)
External Factors	269	(1)
The Litigious Society?	270	(6)
Formal and Informal Dispute Processing	276	(2)
The Flow of Civil Litigation	278	(7)
Civil Justice: Two Case Studies	285	(12)
Small Claims Court: Poor Man's Justice	285	(6)
Medical Malpractice: Obstetrics and Gynecology Cases	291	(6)
Conclusions	297	(1)
Further Reading	298	(2)
9 The Judicial Process in Criminal Cases	300	(46)
Politics of Criminal Law	301	(3)
Conceptualizing the Criminal Justice Process	304	(2)
Crime in America	306	(6)
Justice Without Trial: The Decision to Arrest	312	(4)
Prosecutorial Discretion and Plea Bargaining: The Heart of the Process	316	(13)
Prosecutorial Discretion: The Early Stages	318	(6)
The Work Group and Plea Bargaining	324	(5)
Trials	329	(4)
Sentencing	333	(11)
Further Reading	344	(2)
10 The State Appellate Process	346	(32)
Appeals: Function and Process	346	(3)
State Intermediate Appellate Courts	349	(7)
The Evolution of State Supreme Courts	356	(4)
Decision Making on State Supreme Courts	360	(7)
State Supreme Courts: The Emergence of the "New" Judicial Federalism	367	(9)
Conclusion	376	(1)
Further Reading	376	(2)
11 Federal Appeals	378	(33)
The United States Courts of Appeals	378	(11)
Appellate Caseload: Origin and Substance	379	(3)
Screening and Other Shortcuts at the Federal Appellate Level	382	(2)
Circuit Court Decision Making	384	(5)
The United States Supreme Court	389	(8)
The Setting	390	(2)
Access and Cashflow	392	(5)
Deciding What to Decide: The Certiorari Process	397	(11)
Formal Decision Making	401	(7)
Further Reading	408	(1)
SECTION IV COURTS AND SOCIETY	409	(62)
12 Judicial Policies: Compliance, Implementation, and Impact	411	(38)
Impact Research: The State of the Art	411	(4)
Legislative Responses	415	(13)
Congress and the Supreme Court	415	(11)
State Legislative Responses	426	(2)
Executive Responses	428	(2)
The Judicial Bureaucracy	430	(6)
The Extrajudicial Bureaucracy	436	(5)
The Exclusionary Rule	437	(1)
School Prayers	438	(3)
Interest Groups, Public Opinion, and the Media	441	(6)
Further Reading	447	(2)
13 American Courts: An Assessment	449	(22)
Courts as Resolvers of Disputes	450	(8)
Judicial Policy-Making, Constitutional Democracy, and Social Change	458	(8)
Courts as Purveyors and Substainers of Myth	466	(3)
Further Reading	469	(2)
Name Index	471	(10)
Case Index	481	(4)
Subject Index	485