Rise of Judicial Management in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, 1955-2000University of Georgia Press, 2010 M07 1 - 576 pages This 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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... courts justifies declarations by several political scientists that federal district judges are the “ gatekeepers ” or the “ work- horses " of the federal judiciary . Social scientists have studied these important courts for decades ...
... district judge can also assign a magistrate to preside over pretrial conferences , to conduct discovery hearings , and to submit findings of fact and rec- ommendations to the court . Congress has steadily increased magistrates ...
... district court in 1949, when President Harry Truman nominated Allred to another new seat. The appointment received the full support of U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, who had succeeded O'Daniel. Although in later years Johnson was among ...
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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 |