U.S. Judge on Judging

New York Times columnist David French interviews Jeffrey Sutton, chief judge of the Sixth Cercuit Court of Appeals, asking Judge Sutton to explain what it is that a judge does, what his judicial philosophy is. 26 min., transcript available.

 Recusal at SCOTUS

NPR's Nina Totenberg has consulted a series of experts on judicial ethics about whether Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court should recuse himself (say he will not be part of hearing a case) on  insurrection cases because of the actions of his wife Ginni in the events surrounding January 6, 2021. Totenberg's report can be found here. 5 min., transcript available.

Jonathan Sumption's 2019 Reith Lectures

Jonathan Sumption, formerly a UK Supreme Court Justice, before that a barrister and before that an academic historian, gave the 2019 BBC Reith Lectures. The titles of his five lectures were

• Law’s Expanding Empire 
• In Praise of Politics
• Human Rights and Wrongs
• Rights and the Ideal Constitution
• Shifting the Foundations

Each is about 40 minutes long. Transcripts are available.

The UK Supreme Court Recruits

Lady Hale, President of the UK Supreme Court, appears in a short recruitement video. There will be three vacancies in the Court at the beginning of next year and she explains the qualities required of candidates and how to apply. Careful: you must apply by Friday March 1 at midday.

October 2018 U.S. Supreme Court Term Opens

The Brett Kavanaugh nomination to fill the seat of departing Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court is still pending, so the Court has begun its new year (or term) with only 8 justices. Nina Totenberg of NPR has this report about the first cases on the new docket. 3 min 58 sec, transcript available. The recording talks about a case involving the protection of an endangered species, the dusky gopher frog, but Totenberg’s article accompaning the recording also presents upcoming cases involving the death penalty, the rule of precedent, the power of administrative agencies and immigration.

California Judge is Removed by Voters

One of the curious features of United States state court judges is that in many states they are elected, or appointed and then have to stand for election after a period of time. A judge in California was just removed (or "recalled") because of indignation over a sentence he handed down that was perceived as being too lenient. NPR's Scott Simon interviews a public defender who is worried that this will lead to judges being influenced by what the public will think when sentencing offenders. Mistakes can be made because the public's information might not be accurate. 4 min 25 sec, transcript available.

Recalling Judges in the U.S.

You might be surprised to learn that judges can be recalled. Recalled here doesn’t have anything to do with memory. It means that they can be removed from office by a special vote. See definition number 4 of the noun recall.
The California judge in the news who might be recalled is one who gave what some consider too lenient a sentence in the case of a Stanford student convicted of sexual assault. You can hear NPR’s Scott Simon's interview with a retired California judge opposed to this initiative who sets out the unwanted bad effects that it could have. 4 min, 55 sec, transcript available.

Ceremony in the UK Supreme Court

The UK Supreme Court on October 2 held a swearing-in ceremony for the new President (Lady Brenda Hale), Deputy President (Lord Jonathan Mance) and three new justices, including the second woman to serve on this court. Lots of fancy judicial robes, no wigs. 30 min, no transcript.

New Law Podcasts

Just discovered -- two relatively new podcasts, one from the UK and the other the US.

• Law Pod UK -- So far 10 episodes, the most recent being an examination of artificial intelligence and the law. 13 min, no transcript. Sound quality sometimes less that optimum.
• Pro Say -- a weekly podcast,  Each podcast examines several different topics. For instance, the September 4 podcast has a 15 minute interview with a federal district judge about Judge Richard Posner’s new book, followed by a 5 minute story about a class action against the Subway sandwich chain for selling « footlong » sandwiches that are only 11 inches long. About 30 min, no transcript.

State Judicial Elections in the U.S.

In the U.S. state, but not federal, judges are often elected although these elections were not usually considered « political ». This is changing as NPR’s All Things Considered report reveals. 4 min 40 sec, transcript available.

Raising the Bar

Raising the Bar, on BBC Radio 5, has started a new series of programmes about the law.The first, available for another three weeks, has interviews with judges about their profession. The second, available later today for one month, talks about international law. The third, which will air August 7, is about terrorism law in the UK. 60 min, no transcript.

The U.S. Supreme Court Compared to Lower Courts

The U.S. Supreme Court is receiving a great deal of attention with the prospect of replacing Justice Antonin Scalia, but Legal Issues in the News commentator and law professor Verity Winship explains here the very significant differences between the work of the high court and that of lower courts. 3 min 25 sec, no transcript available.

Things We Missed Over the Summer

A new series by Clive Coleman -  Every Case Tells a Story, started in June on the BBC with three 28 minute episodes :

• Treason on Trial (1945 trial of « Lord Haw-Haw »)
• The Case Against Slavery (1772 Somersett Case)
• The Case of Kolkata (2005 case to decide who founded the city)

Elsewhere, Clive Coleman spoke to judges on the subject of diversity in the judiciary. A downloadable version can be found here. 4 min 34 sec, transcript available.

On the subject of the judiciary in England and Wales, BBC’s Law in Action had a programme in June entitled Courts on Trial. 28 min, no transcript. Law in Action will be back with a new series of episodes in November.

Supreme Courts

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has posted a conversation on youtube with three present or former members of three different Supreme Courts: of Israel (Justice Dorit Beinish), Canada (Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella) and the United States (Justice Elena Kagan). 1 hour 26 minutes, no transcript.

Judges as Humans

The U.K. Supreme Court held an event - "The Humanity of Judging" - on November 19, part of the Being Human festival. A video of the event has just been posted. Included are remarks from a judge and several academics, including one who discussed images of judges and another the importance of diversity in the backgrounds of judges. 53 min, no transcript.

American Elections

Americans voted last week to elect their President, some Governors, one-third of Senators and all the Members of the House of Representatives but in many states they also voted for judges. NPR's Morning Edition of November 6 had a story about judicial elections in Florida. 3 min 56 sec, transcript available. The NPR piece doesn't give the outcome of those elections, but you can read more on Slate.
Elections in many states also included referendums. California voters were asked about abolishing the death penalty and modifying the state's three-strikes law. You can find what those voters decided by listening to this Morning Edition program. 3 min 51 sec, transcript available.

Conversation with Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan

Justice Elena Kagan, the newest and youngest associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, answered questions this week at the University of Richmond Law School about oral arguments, how the Court decides cases, the role of clerks, how she writes opinions, the blogs she reads and much more. Very interesting.
58 min, no transcript

Studying the Judiciary

In her inaugural lecture (June 2012), entitled Purple Haze: The Danger of Being in the Dark about Judges, Professor Cheryl Thomas, University College London Professor of Judicial Studies, asks
why in the 21st century is there such a lack of understanding and scholarly research in England and Wales about one of the key institutions of the state – the judiciary. 80 min. no transcript
The video can be found here, on the same page with MANY other interesting videos.

SCOTUS v. POTUS: The Role of the Supreme Court, Historically

PBS's Newshour of April 4 has program which includes an interview with two Georgetown law professors, Louis Michael Seidman and Randy Barnett. Barnett is the one who came up with the idea, in the context of the health care debate, that the commerce clause of the Constitution, while it allows the federal government to require citizens to refrain from doing something, cannot require citizens to DO something. The Affordable Care Act now before the Supreme Court requires most uninsured people to buy insurance if they are not otherwise insured, a requirement which is called the individual mandate. The Newshour program is not about the individual mandate, but about the propriety of remarks made by President Obama about judicial activism, remarks which can be heard at the beginning of this program. A little help with the acronyms: SCOTUS is the Supreme Court of the United States, and POTUS the President of the United States.
streaming  video or downloadable .mp3, 12min 32 sec, transcript available

More on Judicial Decision-Making

C-Span Classroom has a video of a panel discussion by 4 eminent judges on judicial decision-marking. 2 judges from the highest state courts and 2 federal appeals court judges answered questions about how they decide cases. 1h03min, no transcript, but closed captioning can be activated (click on the [CC] box)