Rise of Judicial Management in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, 1955-2000This is the first book-length study of a federal district court to analyze the revolutionary changes in its mission, structure, policies, and procedures over the past four decades. As Steven Harmon Wilson chronicles the court's attempts to keep pace with an expanding, diversifying caseload, he situates those efforts within the social, cultural, and political expectations that have prompted the increase in judicial seats from four in 1955 to the current nineteen. Federal judges have progressed from being simply referees of legal disputes to managers of expanding courts, dockets, and staffs, says Wilson. The Southern District of Texas offers an especially instructive model by which to study this transformation. Not only does it contain a varied population of Hispanics, African Americans, and whites, but its jurisdiction includes an international border and some of the busiest seaports in the United States. Wilson identifies three areas of judicial management in which the shift has most clearly manifested itself. Through docket and case management judges have attempted to rationalize the flow of work through the litigation process. Lastly, and most controversially, judges have sought to bring "constitutionally flawed" institutions into compliance through "structural reform" rulings in areas such as housing, education, employment, and voting. Wilson draws on sources ranging from judicial biography and oral-history interviews to case files, published opinions, and administrative memoranda. Blending legal history with social science, this important new study ponders the changing meaning of federal judgeship as it shows how judicial management has both helped and hindered the resolution of legal conflicts and the protection of civil rights. |
From inside the book
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... Fifth Circuit's response to this appeal demonstrated that , even after the landmark ruling on grad- uate education , Inc. Fund lawyers had miles to go before they overturned school segregation at all levels . 27 In January 1951 the ...
... Fifth Circuit. A three-judge panel, including two Texans, Chief Circuit Judge Hutcheson and Circuit Judge John R. Brown, and Circuit Judge Richard T. Rives of Alabama, heard the appeal and reversed Estes' ruling. Hutcheson wrote the ...
... Fifth Circuit judicial panel refused to stay the order . 84 The board sought relief from the U.S. Supreme Court , but Associate Justice Hugo Black , who oversaw the Fifth Circuit , also refused to countermand Connally's grade - a - year ...
... Circuit Judge Brown wrote the opinion for the three - judge panel , which included Circuit Judges Elbert Tuttle and Hutcheson . Brown first reviewed the his- tory of ... Fifth Circuit judges agreed with Judge Connally that the 28 CHAPTER ONE.
... Fifth Circuit panel reversed Connally on the brother-sister rule. They remanded the case for “further and not inconsistent action.”103 Judge Hutcheson, the other Houstonian on the appellate panel, wrote a separate concurring opinion, in ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
Legislation Litigation and Judicial Economy | 50 |
The Rules and Exceptions of Border Justice | 93 |
Managing Our Federalism in the Southern District | 140 |
Judicial Management of Triethnic Integration | 189 |
Federal Criminal Justice on Trial in the 1970s | 233 |
Adjuncts and the Oversight of Corporate Misconduct | 281 |
Masters Magistrates and Managerial Judges | 327 |
Just Speedy and Inexpensive Resolutions | 355 |
Notes | 359 |
Selected Bibliography | 521 |
Index | 547 |