In 2018, Chief Justice Roberts posited that there are no “Obama judges or Trump judges”—an expression of judicial independence from politics. Yet legal culture has become unusually polarized in recent years, reflected in predictable voting lineups at the Supreme Court, allegedly partisan behavior by some courts of appeals, and aggressive forum and judge shopping by litigants. These developments have prompted policy proposals, from term limits for Justices to greater unpredictability in district court case assignments. With Judge William Fletcher, Marin Levy, and Richard Re, this panel aims to place recent events in historical context and to explore paths forward.
Business meeting at program conclusion.