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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... fact and rec- ommendations to the court . Congress has steadily increased magistrates ' authority to render ... facts and sharpening legal issues that may only later come be- fore a federal district judge . There are now more than a ...
... fact that , nearly fifty years after Brown was decided , scholars continue to debate not only the legitimacy , but also the social , political , educational , and legal meaning of this still controversial “ civil rights milestone . ” 48 ...
... fact predated, the Supreme Court's desegregation opinion. Hence, they argued that Brown was not a significant case. Another distinction between these two cases—and the critical difference that explains the disparate reliance on Brown ...
... fact , that the HISD proposal was " a palpable sham and subterfuge designed only to accomplish further evasion >> 82 and delay . " Connally had presided over the suit to dismantle Houston's segregated school system for three years . The ...
... fact that desegregation had occurred with- out the public violence that had attended similar court-ordered actions in other southern cities.91 It became clear, as he discussed developments in Houston, that the judge favored order over ...
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 |