Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics, March 31, 2002

Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics, March 31, 2002
Author: Leonidas R. Mecham
Publisher: Administrative Office of the United States Courts
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2002-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9780160512162

Provides statistical information on the caseload of the federal Judiciary for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2002. Presents data on the work of the appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts and on the work of the probation and pretrial services system.

Unequal

Unequal
Author: Sandra F. Sperino
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2017-05-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0190278404

It is no secret that since the 1980s, American workers have lost power vis-à-vis employers through the well-chronicled steep decline in private sector unionization. American workers have also lost power in other ways. Those alleging employment discrimination have fared increasingly poorly in the courts. In recent years, judges have dismissed scores of cases in which workers presented evidence that supervisors referred to them using racial or gender slurs. In one federal district court, judges dismissed more than 80 percent of the race discrimination cases filed over a year. And when juries return verdicts in favor of employees, judges often second guess those verdicts, finding ways to nullify the jury's verdict and rule in favor of the employer. Most Americans assume that that an employee alleging workplace discrimination faces the same legal system as other litigants. After all, we do not usually think that legal rules vary depending upon the type of claim brought. The employment law scholars Sandra A. Sperino and Suja A. Thomas show in Unequal that our assumptions are wrong. Over the course of the last half century, employment discrimination claims have come to operate in a fundamentally different legal system than other claims. It is in many respects a parallel universe, one in which the legal system systematically favors employers over employees. A host of procedural, evidentiary, and substantive mechanisms serve as barriers for employees, making it extremely difficult for them to access the courts. Moreover, these mechanisms make it fairly easy for judges to dismiss a case prior to trial. Americans are unaware of how the system operates partly because they think that race and gender discrimination are in the process of fading away. But such discrimination still happens in the workplace, and workers now have little recourse to fight it legally. By tracing the modern history of employment discrimination, Sperino and Thomas provide an authoritative account of how our legal system evolved into an institution that is inherently biased against workers making rights claims.

Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power

Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power
Author: Gerry Spence
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2007-10-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1466831952

Ann Coulter. Laura Ingraham. Nancy Grace. Bill O'Reilly. Sean Hannity. Pat Robertson. Their faces and voices are ubiquitous: the shrill shrieks and strident bellowings that drown out all debate and set every listener on edge, using God's and Jesus's names to justify oppression and ignorance, and spread falsehoods as if they were facts. They occupy the bully pulpit of the new American hate culture: the television and radio programs watched and heard by millions of people that shape the opinions and set the agendas of churches, school boards, political action groups, and ultimately those we have elected to represent all of us. Gerry Spence takes dead aim at the media demagogues who wield their power with such virulent effect. Using the full force of his own rhetorical skill—developed through decades as a legendary defense attorney—Spence exposes the people behind the words, and carves their arguments with the rough edge of his tongue. Anyone who has had it up to here will cheer to see these bullies met and conquered on their own turf.

American Law in a Global Context

American Law in a Global Context
Author: George P. Fletcher
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 696
Release: 2005-02-03
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199883270

American Law in a Global Context is an elegant and erudite introduction to the American legal system from a global perspective. It covers the law and lawyering tools taught in the first year of law school, explaining the underlying concepts and techniques of the common law used in U.S. legal practice. The ideas central to the development and practice of American law, as well as constitutional law, contracts, property, criminal law, and courtroom procedure, are all presented in their historical and intellectual contexts, accessible to the novice but with insight that will inform the expert. Actual cases illuminate each major subject, engaging readers in the legal process and the arguments between real people that make American law an ever-evolving system.

Law and Class in America

Law and Class in America
Author: Paul Carrington
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2006-06
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0814716547

In Law and Class in America, a group of leading legal scholars reflect on the state of the law from the end of the Cold War to the present, grappling with a central question posed to them by Paul D. Carrington and Trina Jones: have recent legal reforms exacerbated class differences in America? In a substantive introduction, Carrington and Jones assert that legal changes from the late-20th century onward have been increasingly elitist and unconcerned with the lives of poor people having little access to the legal system. Contributors use this position as a springboard to review developments in their own particular fields and to assess whether or not legal decisions and processes have contributed to a widening gap between privileged and unprivileged people in this country. From antitrust and bankruptcy to tax and election law, the essays in this unique volume invite readers to reflect thoughtfully on socio-economic justice in the new century, and suggest that a lack of progressive reform in all areas of law may herald a form of undiagnosed class dominance reminiscent of America's Gilded Age. Contributors: Margaret A. Berger, M. Gregg Bloche, David L. Callies, Paul D. Carrington, Paul Y. K. Castle, Lance Compa, James D. Cox, Paula A. Franzese, Marc Galanter, Julius G. Getman, Lawrence O. Gostin, Joel F. Handler, Trina Jones, Thomas E. Kauper, Sanford Levinson, John Linehan, Joseph D. McNamara, Burt Neuborne, Jeffrey O'Connell, Judith Resnik, Richard L. Schmalbeck, Danielle Sarah Seiden, Richard E. Speidel, Gerald Torres, David M. Trubek, Elizabeth Warren, and Lawrence A. Zelenak.