Court Review: Volume 41, Issue 3-4 - Friends of the Court? The Bar, the Media, and the Public

The fourth panel discussion at the National Forum on Judicial Independence explores the way the public thinks about judicial independence and ways in which the media and members of the bar may affect judicial independence. The discussion was led by then-AJA secretary Steve Leben, a state general-jurisdiction trial judge from Kansas. Panelists were John Russonello, a pollster and consultant to nonprofit organizations, political campaigns, and other clients, and Malcolm Feeley, professor at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California-Berkeley. The National Forum on Judicial Independence was supported by a generous grant from the Joyce Foundation of Chicago, Illinois

Court Review: Volume 41, Issue 3-4 - Judicial Independence: The Freedom to Be Fair

The final panel discussion at the National Forum on Judicial Independence was moderated by Jack Ford, host of the syndicated Public Broadcasting System program, Inside the Law. The discussion explores topics of judicial independence in a manner designed for use with the public at large and formed the basis for the onehour PBS program, “Judicial Independence: The Freedom to Be Fair.” Panelists were Leo Bowman, chief judge of the District Court in Pontiac, Michigan, Kevin Burke, district judge and former chief judge of the Hennepin County (Minn.) District Court, Michael Cicconetti, judge of the Painesville (Ohio) Municipal Court, Malcolm Feeley, professor of law at the University of California- Berkeley, Steve Leben, district judge in Johnson County, Kansas, Michael R. McAdam, a judge and former presiding judge on the Kansas City (Mo.) Municipal Court, Gayle Nachtigal, circuit court judge in Washington County, Oregon, Tam Nomoto Schumann, superior court judge in Orange County, California, and William C. Vickrey, state court administrator in California. The National Forum on Judicial Independence was supported by a generous grant from the Joyce Foundation of Chicago, Illinois

Pantepui and global warming

Conservation-related concerns about Pantepui usually pertain to direct human impacts (biopiracy, invader species, fire, contamination, etc.), and little attention has been paid to indirect threats, such as global warming (GW). This chapter summarizes the studies carried out to date aimed at estimating the potential impact of the projected GW by the end of this century on the Pantepui biota, particularly on vascular plants. The main threat seems to be extinction caused by habitat loss due to the impossibility of upward migration on the flat summits of the tepuis. Potential extinction has been estimated on the basis of GW predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) using the altitudinal range shift (ARS) and species–area relationship (SAR) methods. The preliminary results suggest the potential extinction of up to approximately 80% of the vascular flora, including approximately 50% of the Pantepui–endemic species. Several in situ and ex situ protection measures are discussed in an attempt to palliate such eventual biodiversity depletion. The available extinction estimates are preliminary and based on homogeneous responses of all vascular plants to GW, which is not fully realistic but is all that can be done with the available information. Future studies should be aimed at refining extinction estimates, considering the eventual idiosyncratic responses of the different species, such as differential migration rates, phenotypic plasticity, or adaptive ability. However, the main handicap is the lack of autoecological information on Pantepui species and the unfeasibility of conducting such studies due to the bureaucratic impediments related to obtaining sampling permits. It is urgent to circumvent this situation if the biodiversity of Pantepui, one of the very few pristine locations left on our planet, is to be preserved