The Docket: Recent Responses
Meaningful Information, Meaningful Retention
Jordan M. Singer reflects on the uncertain future of judicial retention elections, in response to Todd E. Pettys's Judicial Retention Elections, the Rule of Law, and the Rhetorical Weaknesses of Consequentialism, 60 BUFF. L. REV. 69.
Pedagogy and Critique: Values and Assumptions in the Law School Classroom
Michael Fischl offers further reflections on the importance of Emeritus Professor James Atleson's scholarship, in response to our Symposium on James Atleson's Values and Assumptions in American Labor Law: A Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Retrospective, 57 BUFF. L. REV. 629.
New York's Inbred Judiciary: Pathologies of Nomination and Appointment of Court of Appeals Judges
The Buffalo Law Review is committed to showcasing topics involving the New York State judiciary. The Review recently published Recusal and Recompense: Amending New York Recusal Law in Light of the Judicial Pay Raise Controversy, 57 BUFF. L REV. 1597, by Jeffrey T. Fiut, which critiqued the current state of New York's judicial recusal law and proposed a new system for protecting judicial impartiality. In addition, the New York Legislature has recently held hearings on the current method of judicial appointment to the New York State Court of Appeals. In New York's Inbred Judiciary: Pathologies of Nominations and Appointment of Court of Appeals Judges, James A. Gardner provides both an explanation and critique of the current appointment system for Court of Appeals judges and offers suggestions for improvement.
Noteworthy
Jordan M. Singer reflects on the uncertain future of judicial retention elections, in response to Todd E. Pettys's recent article Judicial Retention Elections, the Rule of Law, and the Rhetorical Weaknesses of Consequentialism, 60 Buff. L. Rev. 69 (2012). View this and other recent responses in Buffalo Law Review's online extension: The Docket.
The Buffalo Law Review is proud to honor Jean C. Powers '79, Partner at Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel LLP, and David E. Franasiak '78, Principal of Williams & Jensen, at its Twenty-Third Annual Awards Dinner on Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at the Buffalo Club in Buffalo, NY at 6:00pm. Find out more about the Law Review's activities and achievements in the 2012 Alumni Newsletter.
Should NCAA players unionize in an effort to get paid? A forthcoming article in the August issue of the Buffalo Law Review, A Union of Amateurs: A Legal Blueprint to Reshape Big-Time College Athletics, by Nick Fram and Thomas Frampton presents surprising research regarding state-level paths to player unionization and pay. Their cutting edge research is already garnering media attention; a recent article in Salon, "Madness of March: NCAA Gets Paid, Players Don’t," relies heavily on their findings to suggest an avenue to empower student-athletes: "Rather than corrupting 'amateurism,' Fram and Frampton argue, unionization offers a path to preserve its best aspects: protecting the league from legal crisis while providing players a forum to defend their academic pursuits and their physical and emotional health."
Justice Scalia cited Susan Randall's influential article, Judicial Attitudes Toward Arbitration and the Resurgence of Unconscionability, 52 Buff. L. Rev. 185 (2004) in his majority opinion in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion. Professor Randall's article used groundbreaking empirical research to demonstrate increased use of the unconscionability doctrine in courts since the Federal Arbitration Act was passed.
Todd Pettys's article was featured in an editorial, "Judges Need to Learn to Defend Themselves," in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on December 16, 2011. The editors wrote: "Pettys is right that the only real problem with Iowa’s current judicial nominating system is that it all but ties the hands of judges from defending themselves against any organized efforts to unseat them."