Title
The People's Courts : Pursuing Judicial Independence in America / Jed Handelsman Shugerman.
ISBN
9780674062825
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2012]
Copyright
©2012
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (391 p.) : 2 line illustrations, 2 graphs, 7 tables
Other Standard Identifiers
10.4159/harvard.9780674062825 doi
Call Number
KF8776 .S54 2012eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
347.73/14
Summary
In the United States, almost 90 percent of state judges have to run in popular elections to remain on the bench. In the past decade, this peculiarly American institution has produced vicious multi-million-dollar political election campaigns and high-profile allegations of judicial bias and misconduct. The People's Courts traces the history of judicial elections and Americans' quest for an independent judiciary-one that would ensure fairness for all before the law-from the colonial era to the present.In the aftermath of economic disaster, nineteenth-century reformers embraced popular elections as a way to make politically appointed judges less susceptible to partisan patronage and more independent of the legislative and executive branches of government. This effort to reinforce the separation of powers and limit government succeeded in many ways, but it created new threats to judicial independence and provoked further calls for reform. Merit selection emerged as the most promising means of reducing partisan and financial influence from judicial selection. It too, however, proved vulnerable to pressure from party politics and special interest groups. Yet, as Shugerman concludes, it still has more potential for protecting judicial independence than either political appointment or popular election.The People's Courts shows how Americans have been deeply committed to judicial independence, but that commitment has also been manipulated by special interests. By understanding our history of judicial selection, we can better protect and preserve the independence of judges from political and partisan influence.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
Frontmatter
Contents
Introduction: America's Peculiar Institution
CHAPTER ONE. Declaring Judicial In de pen dence
CHAPTER TWO. Judicial Challenges in the Early Republic
CHAPTER THREE. Judicial Elections as Separation of Powers
CHAPTER FOUR. Panic and Trigger
CHAPTER FIVE. The American Revolutions of 1848
CHAPTER SIX. The Boom in Judicial Review
CHAPTER SEVEN. Reconstructing Independence
CHAPTER EIGHT. The Progressives' Failed Solutions
CHAPTER NINE. The Great Depression, Crime, and the Revival of Appointment
CHAPTER TEN. The Puzzling Rise of Merit
CHAPTER ELEVEN. Judicial Plutocracy after 1980
Conclusion: Interests, Ideas, and Judicial Independence
Appendix A: Judicial Elections Timeline
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
