A Federal Ombudsman

With the profusion of specialized agencies and services, there is need for an information, referral, and complaint service that can provide a citizen with a needed service or refer him without delay to an agency that can handle his problem effectively. Ideally, a local office in each community, easily accessible by mail, telephone or in person, should provide information concerning governmental and other services; refer citizens to appropriate agencies for help and action; assist citizens in formulating complaints against local, state or federal agencies; forward the complaint to an appropriate complaint-handling institution; and monitor the action taken on any referral or complaint

Judicial Independence in Excess: Reviving the Judicial Duty of the Supreme Court

Independence from extrinsic influence is, we know, indispensable to public trust in the integrity of professional judges who share the duty to decide cases according to preexisting law. But such independence is less appropriate for those expected to make new law to govern future events. Indeed, in a democratic government those who make new law are expected to be accountable to their constituents, not independent of their interests and unresponsive to their desires. The Supreme Court of the United States has in the last century largely forsaken responsibility for the homely task of deciding cases in accord with preexisting law and has settled into the role of a superlegislature devoted to making new law to govern future events. Citizens who see our judges as primarily engaged in this political role are understandably less tolerant of their claim to independence and are more intent on holding them to account for unwelcome decisions. Such popular dissatisfaction, or even unrest, with our judiciary is a source of prudent concern expressed by Justices, among others. This Article responds to that shared concern with a proposal to restore the Supreme Court to a more purely judicial role by reviving the duty of Justices to decide cases. It would require the Court to decide numerous cases certified by a group of experienced lower federal court judges as the cases most in need of their judicial attention. This proposal is intended not only to strengthen the claim to independence of the Supreme Court, but also that of other courts subject to its leadership

Information Technology and Legal Ethics: Expanding the Teaching and Understanding of Legal Ethics Through the Creation of a New Generation of Electronic Reference Materials

Cramton and Martin present a very brief summary of the inward-looking elements of the Cornell Law School prorgam to improve the basic required course in professional ethics and to encourage the pervasive teaching of the subject throughout the law curriculum. The Cornell program focuses on the preparation and dissemination of electronic material on legal ethics on a state-by-state basis

Original Sin and Judicial Independence: Providing Accountability for Justices

The independence of the judiciary is an enduring and defining objective of the legal profession. Law depends on judges to observe and enforce it. To secure such virtuous judges, they must be protected from retaliation by those who disapprove their decisions and prevented from receiving rewards from those who benefit by them. Those having the greatest stake in shielding judges from intimidation or reward are the profession that shares their dependence on public acceptance and respect. And that task of protecting judicial independence stands today at the very top of the agenda of the American legal profession

Causes and Cures of Administrative Delay

Although administrative agencies have been created to provide expeditious determinations of matters that courts and legislatures could not handle, delay still continues. Three basic methods of attacking the problem have been suggested – reduce the number of cases to be decided; increase the capacity of the system to decide the cases; and reduce the time required to decide individual cases