Author Archive | Craig Lerner & Nelson Lund, guest-blogging

Thanks again to Eugene for inviting us to guest blog about Judicial Duty and the Supreme Court’s Cult of Celebrity this week. We would also like to thank the commenters, especially those who read our posts (here here here here and here) and/or the draft article. In this final post, we respond to a few […]

This concludes our posts (here here here and here) summarizing our draft article, Judicial Duty and the Supreme Court’s Cult of Celebrity. Tonight or tomorrow, we’ll post responses to a few of the comments. In the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress included service on lower federal courts among the original duties of Supreme Court Justices. […]

Today, we extend our earlier posts (here here and here) summarizing our draft article, Judicial Duty and the Supreme Court’s Cult of Celebrity. In 1957 a young Arizona lawyer wrote an article in U.S. News and World Report entitled, “Who Writes Decisions of the Supreme Court?” Noting that Supreme Court clerks are “an intellectually high-spirited […]

Today, we continue our series of posts (here and here) summarizing our draft article, Judicial Duty and the Supreme Court’s Cult of Celebrity. Over the years, critics of the Supreme Court, especially political conservatives, have argued that Congress should strip it of jurisdiction over hot-button issues like abortion, busing, and school prayer. Here we advance […]

Today, we continue where we left off yesterday, summarizing our proposals and arguments for Supreme Court reform in Judicial Duty and the Supreme Court’s Cult of Celebrity. A surprisingly fateful development in Supreme Court practice was the emergence of a culture of signed majority opinions. Currently, one Justice writes an “opinion for the Court” (or […]

We would first like to thank Eugene for inviting us to summarize and discuss the arguments in our draft article, Judicial Duty and the Supreme Court’s Cult of Celebrity. We’re looking forward to comments and constructive criticism from VC’s thoughtful and active community. The 1987 confirmation fight over Robert Bork gave political salience to the […]