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Overview
The American judicial system plays a central role in setting and enforcing the legal rules under which the people of the United States live. U.S. courts and laws, though, are complex and often criticized for bias and other alleged shortcomings, The U.S. Supreme Court has emerged as a particular focal point of political partisanship and controversy, both in terms of the legal decisions it hands down and the makeup of its membership.
Like other books in the Contemporary World Issues series, this volume comprises seven chapters. Chapter 1 presents the origins, development, and current characteristics of the American judicial system. Chapter 2 discusses problems and controversies orbiting around the U.S. justice system today. Chapter 3 features a wide-ranging collection of essays that examine and illuminate various aspects of the judicial system. Chapter 4 profiles influential organizations and people related to the justice system, and Chapter 5 offers relevant data and documents about U.S. courts. Chapter 6 is composed of an annotated list of important resources, while Chapter 7 offers a useful chronology of events.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781440874581 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | ABC-CLIO, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 05/18/2022 |
| Series: | Contemporary World Issues |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 381 |
| File size: | 17 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Preface xv
1 Background and History 3
Introduction: An Overview of the Judicial System 3
Pre-Constitution Judicial System 6
Colonial Era: 1600 to Late 1700s 6
The Articles of Confederation Period 7
The Federal Court System Established by the U.S. Constitution 8
District Courts 13
Special Courts 15
Appellate Jurisdiction Courts of Special Subject Matter 20
State and Local Judicial Systems 23
Court Systems in Each State 25
Bibliography 71
2 Problems, Controversies, and Solutions 83
Introduction 83
Problem 1 The Bewildering Complexity of the American Judicial System 84
Problem 2 Judicial Ethics 90
Problem 3 Screening of Federal Judicial Nominees 91
Problem 4 Forced Arbitration Agreements 94
Problem 5 Gender Bias in the Judicial System 95
Problem 6 Increasing Partisanship of the U.S. Courts and Judicial Systems 96
Problem 7 Inequity in the Judicial System-Racial and Ethnic 99
Problem 8 Lack of Minority Judges on the Bench 102
Problem 9 Oversight Relationships 105
Problem 10 Public Defender Issues 108
Problem 11 Juries in the Judicial System 110
Problem 12 Structural Problems 115
Problem 13 Unqualified Judges 116
Bibliography 119
3 Perspectives 133
Introduction 133
Remote Control: How Appellate Court Online Hearings Can Help Offset Judiciary Budget Cuts Taraleigh Davis 133
"Let 'em Play, Ref": The Superabundance of Law in the United States Troy W. Hinrichs 136
The Supreme Court, the Incorporation Doctrine, and the States Timothy R. Johnson Rachel Houston 141
There Are Reversals and Then There Are REVERSALS Scott Merriman 146
The Judicial System from a Clerks Perspective Dennis McKinney 149
Congressional Oversight of the Federal Judiciary Mark C. Miller 152
Courts and Administrative Agencies: A Central Feature of Modern Policymaking Joseph Postell 156
Transgender Rights and the American Judicial System Chuck Stewart 160
4 Profiles 167
Introduction 167
Organizations 168
Alliance for Justice (AFJ) 168
American Association for Justice (AAJ) 168
American Bar Association (ABA) 169
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) 170
American Constitution Society (ACS) 172
American Heritage Society 173
American Judicature Society (AJS) 174
Brennan Center for Justice 175
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) 176
Cato Institute Center for Constitutional Studies (CICCS) 176
Center for American Progress (CAP) 177
Cenrer for Individual Rights (CIR) 177
Center for justice and Democracy (CJD) 178
Center for the Study of Law and Religion (CSLR) 179
Economic Policy Institute (EPI) 180
Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies 180
Federal Judicial Center (FJC) 182
Institute for Justice (IJ) 182
Law and Economic Center (LEC) 183
Legal Information Institute (LII) 184
National Constitution Center 184
Olin Foundation 185
Pew Research Center 186
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) 187
The Sentencing Project 188
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) 189
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee 190
U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) 191
Vera Institute of Justice (VTJ) 192
People 193
Samuel Chase (1741-1811) 193
William O. Douglas (1898-1980) 194
William M. Evarts (1818-1901) 196
Clarence Earl Gideon (1910-1972) 197
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) 198
Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948) 201
Edward "Ted" Kennedy (1932-2009) 203
Patrick Leahy (1940-) 204
John Marshall (1755-1835) 205
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) 206
Ralph Nader (1934-) 208
Barack Obama (1961-) 209
Sandra Day O'Connor (1930-) 210
William Rehnquist (1924-2005) 211
John Roberts (1959-) 212
Antonin Scalia (1936-2016) 213
William Howard Taft (1857-1930) 215
Roger Taney (1777-1864) 216
Donald Trump (1946-) 217
Earl Warren (1891-1974) 218
Bibliography 220
5 Data and Documents 231
Introduction 231
Data 231
Figure 5.1 Map of the Geographic Boundaries for U.S. District Courts and Circuit Courts of Appeals 232
Figure 5.2 New York State Judicial System Flowchart 232
Figure 5.3 Louisiana Courts Structure 233
Figure 5.4 Line Graph of the Combined State and Federal Imprisonment Rates per 100,000 Residents, by Race and Ethnicity, 2008-2018 233
Figure 5.5 Lifetime Likelihood of Imprisonment for Persons Born in 2001; White, Black, Latinx; Men and Women 234
Table 5.1 Year States Were Admitted to the Union, by Year Admitted 234
Table 5.2 Number of States Using Assorted Methods of Judicial Selection 236
Table 5.3 Federal Judges Impeached, 1804-2010 237
Table 5.4 Federal Judicial Nominees by Rate Not Qualified by ABA, 1989 to 2019 238
Table 5.5 Chief Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court 240
Table 5.6 Methods of Judicial Selection in State Court Systems 241
Documents 242
Document 5.1 Article III, the Constitution of the United States 242
Document 5.2 Excerpts from the Judiciary Act of 1789 243
Document 5.3 Excerpts from Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) 250
Document 5.4 Judiciary Act of 1869 252
Document 5.5 Excerpts from Miller v. Texas (1894) 253
Document 5.6 The Nonpartisan Court Plan (Missouri Plan) 254
Document 5.7 Excerpts from the Legal Services Corporation Act of 1974 257
Document 5.8 Excerpts from United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez (1990) 260
Document 5.9 Excerpts from Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn et al. (2011) 262
Document 5.10 Description of the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980, Amended March 12, 2019 264
6 Resources 267
Introduction 267
Print Resources 267
Books 267
Leading Scholarly Journals 299
Nonprint Sources 305
Websites 305
Films 306
7 Chronology 309
Glossary 323
Index 331