http://www.fjc.gov
| Filename | Size |
Benchbook for U.S. District Court Judges,
Fourth EditionMarch 2000 revision, 244 pages An ongoing compilation of information that federal judges have found useful for immediate bench or chambers reference. The Benchbook contains sections on such topics as assignment of counsel, taking guilty pleas, sentencing, standard voir dire questions, and death penalty cases. It is prepared under the guidance of experienced district judges and is produced in loose-leaf format for easy supplementation. |
575 KBytes |
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Chambers Handbook for Judge's Law Clerks and
Secretaries 1994 revision, 198 pages The handbook provides an overview of chambers operations and the work of the federal courts; it does not provide detailed procedures on every aspect of a law clerk’s or a secretary’s daily tasks or review the procedures of each individual court (this is in large part because the duties of law clerks and judicial secretaries vary from court to court). Law clerks and secretaries should become familiar with local court procedures and inquire about a local chambers manual. More detailed information on personnel, administrative, and financial matters is in the Guide to Judiciary Policies and Procedures, published by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. |
1.254 MBytes |
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Maintaining the Public Trust: Ethics for
Federal Judicial Law Clerks 2002, 24 pages The Center, in cooperation with the Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, prepared this pamphlet to help new law clerks recognize ethical issues and apply appropriate ethical standards. The pamphlet covers confidentiality; conflicts of interest; outside legal activities; dealings with prospective employers; outside professional, social, and community activities; receipt of gifts and honoraria; and political activity. It includes an ethics checklist for clerks to review with their judges at the start of their clerkships. |
103 KBytes |
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Recusal:
Analysis of Case Law Under 28 U.S.C. § 455 & 144 2002, 86 pages This monograph offers a synthesis and analysis of the case law under 28 U.S.C. § 455 and 144 to assist judges in ruling on recusal. After providing a history of § 455, the monograph identifies the core principles and recurring issues in the voluminous case law and examines, in representative cases, how the courts of appeals have applied these principles. The monograph also covers the application of § 144 and § 47, and goes into detail on issues such as timeliness of motions, recusal in bench trials, standing, and the Rule of Necessity. |
254 KBytes |
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Creating
the Federal Judicial System, Second Edition Russell R. Wheeler & Cynthia Harrison 1994, 36 pages The authors explain the provisions of the 1789 Judiciary Act and the compromises the Act embodies, review the evolution of the federal judicial system during the nineteenth century, and analyze the conditions and debates that led to the passage of the Evarts Act in 1891, which established the three-tiered system that characterizes federal court structure today. The publication includes twelve maps that illustrate the growth and evolution of the districts and circuits from 1789 to the present. |
758 Kbytes |
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Why
Judges Resign: Influences on Federal Judicial Service, 1789 to 1992 Emily Field Van Tassel 1993, 142 pages Provides a historical perspective on the reasons federal judges have left the bench. The study focuses on the fewer than 200 judges who, over the last 200 years, resigned from the bench for stated reasons other than age or health. The Center prepared the study for the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal. |
745 Kbytes |
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Order in the Courts: A History of the Federal
Court Clerk's Office I. Scott Messinger 2002, 79 pages A chronological study of the development of the clerk's office as an institution from its creation by Congress in 1789 to the present. The report uses legislative material and other primary sources to describe the changing nature of the clerks' duties over the course of American history. The report also describes and explains the transformation of the clerks from relatively autonomous office-holders who earned their livings from the fees that their offices could generate to salaried employees of a federal judicial bureaucracy whose work was, and is, subject to a significant amount of oversight by various agencies of the government. The study emphasizes the clerks' contributions to judicial administration on a national level, but it provides a framework within which others can reconstruct the role of clerks in individual courts. |
212 Kbytes |
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A Primer on the Civil-Law System James G. Apple & Robert P. Deyling 1995, 70 pages An overview for judges and lawyers who want to expand their knowledge of the civil-law tradition. The authors discuss the history of the civil-law system, beginning with the Roman Empire. References are made to the civil-law systems of France and Germany and Chile and Brazil because of their strong influence on many other systems. The authors review the basic features of the modern-day civil-law tradition and compare the civil-law and common-law systems. |
150 Kbytes |