The Supreme Court and the American Constitutional System
The U.S. Supreme Court has faced intense scrutiny and criticism in recent years, from public perception and potential reforms to appearances of impropriety by the justices.
Winter 2024
Articles
The Importance and Impact of U.S. Appellate Courts of Special Jurisdiction
The majority of practitioners seldom have cause to appear in a court of special jurisdiction, but the importance of these courts and the impact their decisions have on millions of cannot be overstate…
Bench & Bar Pipeline
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is the driving force on how to attract diverse attorneys into the world of appellate practice, according to this panel on the Bench & Bar Pipeline.
McCulloch v. Maryland: One-Stop Shopping for Textual Interpretive Methods
In McCulloch, the Supreme Court articulated fundamental principles about the broad scope of the federal government's implied powers, but McCulloch did not put to rest disagreements about the extent o…
A Joinder of Inspiration
Consider the purposeful parallels between and the subsequent legislation stemming from President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech as both reached significant annivers…
Making Non-Argument Sections of Briefs Persuasive
All that glitters is not gold. All that persuades is not argument. It's a mistake to view non-argument sections of briefs as peripheral to your argument. Few judges will read an appellate brief in on…
Changing Voir Dire Standards
What does jury selection have to do with appellate judges? This session at the 2023 AJEI Summit emphasized the critical importance of jury diversity and highlighted the role of appellate judges in en…
Artificial Intelligence: A path to shorter workdays or the demise of human viewpoint?
AI has become an important part of our lives, but what is its place in the legal arena and is the potential benefit really worth the risk?
Pop Culture References & Humor
The consequences of our legal system may be no laughing matter, but humor and pop culture references can be an engaging technique that helps attorneys set their work apart from monotonous briefing th…
Ethics of Recusal & Disqualification
Appropriate recusal and disqualification for lawyers and judges can present ethical concerns within the judicial system.
Articles
Victims' Rights, Sentencing Reform, and a Civilian-Military Dialogue on the Implementation of Criminal Justice Initiatives
In the last two decades, both the civilian and military criminal justice systems have enhanced victims' rights and aligned closely in terms of sentencing. The alignment has become so pronounced that…
Fireside Chat: Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Judge J. Michelle Childs
Neither jurist came to sell anything - no book, no project, no charity. Just public service. Judge Childs led Justice Kavanaugh through the chat with questions about his career, advice for practition…
Appellate Judges Education Institute: Supreme Court Preview
The preview kicked off with a riveting exploration of emerging themes and trends. The speaker, in tune with the pulse of the Supreme Court, hinted at a potential appetite among certain justices to up…
The Art of Rebuttal
This session offered insights into how skilled advocates handle rebuttals and prioritize topics for the rebutting attorney to address.
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky Reviews the Civil Cases of the Supreme Court's October 2022 Term
The October 2022 term marked a significant period for the Supreme Court, during which the Court overturned precedent in key areas such as abortion, gun rights, religion, and affirmative action.
What's in a Name: Dictionaries as Interpretive Authority
Citing a dictionary as support for how a word or phrase is interpreted is not uncommon, but this practice is evolving and carries risks. There are virtues and vices in relying on one of our most basi…
Fireside Chat with U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar
Judge Michelle Childs and Justice Bob Edmunds (Ret.) moderated this in-depth and wide-ranging discussion with U.S Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, which at times felt like watching old friends c…
Other Side of the Lectern: Trading Places
This panel dove straight into key aspects of appellate advocacy, including overarching strategies, written briefs, oral arguments, and the ethical considerations of representing clients as a former j…