Vulgar attitudinalism

[Douglas Edlin]

Scott,

I am most familiar with legal practice in three states (and none is 
Ohio), but I have to say that it was not my experience when I litigated 
in state trial and appellate courts (to say nothing of federal district 
courts and courts of appeals) that "most judges at those levels don't 
even pretend to concern themselves with the law."  Those judges, 
particularly state trial judges, may not issue written opinions, but 
they expected to receive briefs and they expected the lawyers who 
appeared before them to cite and discuss the law (particularly 
precedent).  I like to think that this was not a regional anomaly.

Doug

Scott Gerber wrote:
> I agree with what Frank Cross says below.  I would simply add that 
> Supreme Court justices aren't they only judicial decisionmakers who 
> tend to exercise power, rather than reason.  Lower court judges do, 
> too.  It's especially bad at the lowest levels, such as state trial and 
> intermediate appellate courts.  Most judges at those levels don't even 
> pretend to concern themselves with the law--many don't cite cases in 
> their decisions.  At least U.S. Supreme Court justices cites cases, 
> albeit in a result-oriented fashion
> 
> Scott Gerber
> 
> 
> Frank Cross wrote [snip]:
> 
> I personally  tend to grant good faith to judicial decisionmakers and 
> assume that differences were legitimate differences of opinion about 
> the state of the law.  But the empirical regularities and a few pretty 
> obvious violations of professed legal interpretive methodologies by the 
> justices have caused me to lose my presumption.
> 
> --------------------------------------
> 
> Scott Gerber
> Law College
> Ohio Northern University
> Ada, OH 45810
> 419-772-2219
> http://www.law.onu.edu/faculty/gerber/
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-- 
Douglas E. Edlin
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Dickinson College
P.O. Box 1773
Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013
717.245.1388