A Government of Laws and Also of Men: Judge William K. Thomas

Judge William K. Thomas served for more than forty years as a common pleas judge and as a judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. During his service on the state and federal bench, Judge Thomas epitomized the qualities of fairness, integrity, justice, and compassion that we expect in our judiciary. This article highlights some of the qualities that made Judge Thomas a truly great judge, as well as some of the highlights of his judicial career. It is written as a memorial tribute by one of his former law clerks

Student Due Process Rights in Academic Dismissals from the Public Schools

This article, however, goes beyond the argument that education is one of the most valuable benefits which government in this country provides. The thesis of the article is that education is not only very important to millions of Americans, but that students have constitutionally protected liberty and property interests in their public educations and the courts should therefore require notice and hearing prior to the deprivation of these interests, even when the deprivation is for strictly academic reasons

Ten Things Deans Can Do with Students

A healthy relationship with students is beneficial to one\u27s deanship, law school, and to the dean herself. An experienced provost once told me that serving as dean was the best job that he had ever had because he still had significant contact with students. Deans should take advantage of the possibilities for student interactions that their deanships afford them. What follows is my “top ten list” of ways in which deans can build a positive relationship with their students

Judicial Reporting Under the Civil Justice Reform Act: Look, Mom, No Cases!

This article addresses the new reporting provision of the Civil Justice Reform Act. Part II analyzes the reporting requirement and the requirement\u27s legislative history. Part III describes the implementation of the requirement by the federal judiciary, while Part IV discusses the initial reports filed pursuant to the provision and the media coverage of those reports. Part V next analyzes the wisdom of the reporting requirement, concluding that, on balance, the requirement may be helpful in furthering public accountability of an independent federal judiciary. Part VI then considers what the data now publicly reported under the Civil Justice Reform Act does, and does not, tell us about federal judges and the federal district courts

Personal Jurisdiction after ASAHI: The Other (International) Shoe Drops

This articles analyzes the growth and development of the doctrine of personal jurisdiction and the Supreme Court\u27s consideration and application of that doctrine in the recent case of Asahi Metal Industry Co. v. Superior Court. Asahi is significant both because of the nature of the suit and the nationality of the third-party defendant. The Supreme Court for the first time directly addressed the constitutionality of the ‘stream of commerce’ doctrine of personal jurisdiction, a jurisdictional theory that has been employed increasingly in recent years in products liability actions. Asahi also is one of the few cases in which the Court has considered the assertion of personal jurisdiction over a foreign country defendant

Top Ten Reasons to Be a Law School Dean

Serving as a law school dean can be tough duty. Many people, particularly law school faculty members, have asked over the years why anyone would ever take such a position. This question is particularly relevant because the likely alternative for most deans is service as a full-time professor on a law school faculty-which is, without a doubt, one of the world\u27s truly great jobs.

Congressional Standing to Sue: Whose Vote Is This Anyway

The article is divided into three major sections. Section I traces the development of a separate doctrine of “congressional standing.” It examines the doctrine\u27s development from the Supreme Court\u27s initial consideration of legislative standing through the current opinions of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Section II then analyzes three possible theories of congressional injury and standing. Derivative, representative, and third-party standing theories are all rejected as a basis for congressional standing. While rejecting the suggestion that congressmen possess a personal interest in “their” votes sufficient to constitute the “distinct and palpable injury” required for article III standing purposes, the article finds that truly direct injury to an individual Member of Congress is a proper predicate for congressional standing. Section III next considers the circumstances under which the Congress, as an institution, might possess standing and concludes that suits initiated by Congress would not suffer from the same deficiencies as do suits brought by its individual Members. Accordingly, this section of the article concludes that, in appropriate circumstances, the courts should recognize the standing of the Congress to sue the Executive

Maybe Deaning is Not for You

Several years ago, I wrote an article for the second of these Leadership in Legal Education Symposia entitled, “Top Ten Reasons to Be a Law School Dean.” In that article, I offered ten very good reasons why someone might consider becoming a law school dean. I still believe that these ten reasons, and more, should cause faculty and others to consider service as dean. I continue to find my own service as dean rewarding, challenging, and (most days!) fun. However, having been asked to talk recently about why one might not want to consider deaning has led me to write this essay. My hope is that, when read in conjunction with “Top Ten Reasons to Be a Law School Dean,” the ten points in this essay will provide a fuller picture of law school deaning in the twenty-first century

Board of Curators of the University of Missouri v. Horowitz: Academic Versus Judicial Expertise

In Board of Curators of the University of Missouri v. Horowitz\u27 the United States Supreme Court rejected the argument that public university students are constitutionally entitled to a hearing prior to their dismissal from school for academic reasons. In ruling against a former medical student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Court concluded that the determination whether to dismiss a student for academic reasons requires an expert evaluation of cumulative information and is not readily adapted to the procedural tools of judicial or administrative decisionmaking. \u27 In this article that conclusion and the several opinions in Horowitz will be analyzed and criticized; questions left unanswered by the Horowitz decision and the possibility of nonconstitutional student protection will also be explored

Foreword

It is my great pleasure to introduce the Missouri Law Review\u27s 2009 symposium: Mulling Over the Missouri Plan: A Review of State Judicial Selection and Retention Systems. This has been a labor of love by the entire staff of the Missouri Law Review, and both the February 27 symposium and the written symposium that follows are a work product that should serve as a touchstone for scholars, policy-makers, and all members of the public who are interested in state judicial selection and retention systems and the current efforts to amend and extend those systems