Product Description: Courts without Borders is the first book to examine the politics of judicial extraterritoriality, with a focus on the world's chief practitioner: the United States. For much of the post-World War II era, the United States has been a frequent yet selective regulator of activities outside its territory, and US federal courts are often on the front line in deciding the extraterritorial reach of US law...read more

Examines and measures the extent to which statutory language affects judicial behavior.How does the language of legislative statutes affect judicial behavior? Scholars of the judiciary have rarely studied this question despite statutes being, theoretically, the primary opportunity for legislatures to ensure that those individuals who interpret the law will follow their preferences. In Checking the Courts, Kirk A. Randazzo and Richard W. Waterman offer a model that integrates ideological and legal factors through an empirical measure of statutory discretion. The model is tested across multiple judicial institutions, at both the federal and state levels, and reveals that judges are influenced by the levels of discretion afforded in the legislative statutes. In those cases where lawmakers have clear policy preferences, legislation encourages judges to strictly interpret the plain meaning of the law. Conversely, if policy preferences are unclear, legislation leaves open the possibility that judges will make decisions based on their own ideological policy preferences. Checking the Courts thus provides us with a better understanding of the dynamic interplay between law and ideology.

Product Description: America is a nation obsessed with crime and the law. We are devoted viewers of Law and Order and CSI. When we slip and fall in the grocery store, we sue. When we cannot agree on what society should value, we turn to the courts to solve our moral conundrums...read more

The author presents a policy focus in his discussion of judicial process. Rather than limit the text to coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court, he examines the judiciary as the third branch of government. He also asks students to evaluate the organization, function, and impact of the courts on and within government.

Is litigation an appropriate, effective way to promote social change? What criteria should we use to distinguish among causes, and is there a sound basis in law for making distinctions? In Only Judgment, Aryeh Neier examines how the role of litigation and the public interest bar has changed since Brown v. Board of Education, the impact of litigation in advancing causes, as well as its impact on the movements espousing those causes. Suggesting that in the US, public interest litigation can be a double-edged sword, Only Judgment explores both the possibilities and the limits of litigation as a way to advance interests. Neier s writing gets at the heart of how groups and movements gain, or fail to gain, access to political power.

Scholar Lawrence Baum presents thorough descriptions of the courts and their activities with clear, engaging prose to foster student interest. Comprehensive and current, the text offers explanations of what the courts do, how officers of the court perform their duties, and how the judicial branch relates to the rest of the political system.

Product Description: This is the third text in a series about the United States Federal Government. The Unites States Supreme Court is the highest court and the final arbiter in the land. This book focuses on the history of the Court, the powers and duties of the Justices, and the means by which cases come before the Court...read more