Anthony Champagne

The Politics of Judicial Selection

Some of Stuart Nagels earliest work has a continuing significance to research on the selection of state court judges. His research provides answers to why partisan election of judges, in spite of the flaws of this selection system, remains a major system for selecting state court judges. And Nagels early research offers important insight about contemporary issues in the selection of judges such as the differences between elected and appointed judges and the role of race and ethnicity in judicial decision-making.

The Problem with Empirical Examination of the Use of Court‐appointed Experts: A Report of Non‐findings

This study was designed to examine the use of court-appointed experts as an alternative to privately retained experts in Dallas, Texas. Surprisingly, there has been little empirical study of court-appointed experts. Our findings suggest one reason for the lack of research. We found that court-appointed experts are used so infrequently that it makes empirical study difficult to conduct. We discuss the implications on this problem for future research.

Campaign contributions in Texas Supreme Court races

One of the most disturbing features of an elective judiciary is judicial campaign finance. This paper explores the financing of the 1988 Texas Supreme Court races, probably the most expensive partisan judicial election campaign in history. It examines the sources of the funding of those six seats on the court in terms of competition among interest groups for control of the court. It also examines proposed reforms in the system of campaign finance and points out that those reforms are not neutral tools of “good government”, but that instead they have massive political implications for the interests vying to influence the direction of tort law in the state.

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Oeo Legal Services Program

In view of the current controversy over the legal services program (Pious, 1972), it is important to answer the question: What has been the impact of the OEO projects? The question will be answered by determining the degree of effectiveness of the program in meeting its goals of individual case handling, law reform, and community development.’ In addition, evaluations of the effectiveness of legal services as determined by administrators of agencies and institutions relevant to poor people, poverty community group leaders, and the legal community will be discussed.

Joseph P. Bradley: An Aspect of a Judicial Personality'

Joseph P. Bradley was one of the most influential U.S. Supreme Court justices in the latter 19th century. His family and upbringing, work, social life, religion, and desire for omniscience are examined in this article. Bradley is found to be concerned for intellectual matters and unconcerned with people, social life, or material rewards. He had an extreme interest in control over his environment, unusual intellectual curiosity, and was very attentive to work and detail. Such characteristics led Bradley to become known as a craftsman who showed great attention to research and detail although his views tended to be rigid and at times narrow. Overall, the article suggests the value of studying the personalities of justices in order to understand judicial behavior.

A Reply To Berk

Few would doubt the importance of obtaining a &dquo;consumer perspective&dquo; of the legal services program.’ If one is to examine the effectiveness of a program such as legal services, it would be ideal to know what the clients of the legal services program feel. Unfortunately, Professor Berk chose not to scan the several volumes of materials on the evaluations prior to criticizing the evaluations (see esp. John D. Kettelle Corporation, 1971). If he would have done so, he would have noted that client interviews