Independence Corrupted: How America's Judges Make Their Decisions

by Charles Benjamin Schudson

University of Wisconsin Press, 2018
Cloth: 978-0-299-32030-0 | eISBN: 978-0-299-32033-1
Library of Congress Classification KF8775.S383 2018
Dewey Decimal Classification 347.7314

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

ABOUT THIS BOOK

With experience as both a trial and appellate judge, Charles Benjamin Schudson knows the burdens on judges. With engaging candor, he takes readers behind the bench to probe judicial minds analyzing actual trials and sentencings—of abortion protesters, murderers, sex predators, white supremacists, and others. He takes us into chambers to hear judges forging appellate decisions about life and death, multimillion-dollar damages, and priceless civil rights. And, most significantly, he exposes the financial, political, personal, and professional pressures that threaten judicial ethics and independence.

As political attacks on judges increase, Schudson calls for reforms to protect judicial independence and for vigilance to ensure justice for all. Independence Corrupted is invaluable for students and scholars, lawyers and judges, and all citizens concerned about the future of America's courts.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Charles Benjamin Schudson is a former trial and appellate judge, law professor, and Fulbright scholar. As an expert on the American judicial system, he has appeared on PBS, NPR, and Oprah and before the National Association of State Judicial Educators, the United States Conference of Mayors, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and many law schools. He is the president of Keynote Seminars and the coauthor of the book On Trial: America's Courts and Their Treatment of Sexually Abused Children.

REVIEWS

"Provides a deep understanding of the call to public service. Judges are too often seen as distant, dispassionate rulers, but Schudson shows the difficult and often wrenching decision-making process that every judge must endure. A thoroughly readable book for every citizen who chooses to become better informed about this fascinating branch of government." —Aine Donovan, Dartmouth College Ethics Institute

"Judges decide based on the law and proven facts. Or do they? Judge Schudson answers in an unselfconscious recounting of his twenty-two years judging abortion protestors, delinquent children, skinheads, sexual predators, vicious rapists, and catastrophic accidents. He paints a vivid picture of judges, usually principled but far from perfect." —Frank Sullivan, Jr., Indiana Supreme Court Justice, retired

"Honest and enlightening. The dissecting of actual court cases brings the process of judicial decision making to life. Schudson takes an inside look at how beliefs, philosophies, and even food influence the most neutral of decision makers. His memoir shows that the judge really does matter." —Lee Ann Barnhardt, director of education, North Dakota Court System

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface: Sacred Words/Crossover Time

Introduction: Independence and Corruption

Part One. Judges
1 Who’s the Judge?
2 Where Judges Are Born: The Prosecutor’s Perspective—from Battered Homes to Nursing Homes
3 The Decision-Making Ideal

Part Two. In Chambers: How America’s Judges Really Make Their Decisions
4 The Trial Judge: Birth, Aborted
            State v. Monica Migliorino Miller
5 The Appellate Judge: Birth, Premature
            Peterman v. Midwestern National Insurance Company, Special Products, Inc., Frank A. Busalacchi, and Visuals Plus, Inc.
6 Standard of Review: Humility, and the Division of Labor
7 The Trial Judge: Life, and a Lost Teenager
            In the Interest of S.W., a child under eighteen years of age
8 The Appellate Judge: Life, and a Sex Predator
            State v. Shawn Schulpius
9 The Trial Judge: Death, and a Cherished Child
            State v. Anthony McClain
10 The Appellate Judge: Death, and Three Widows
            Wischer v. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America, Inc.
11 The Trial Judge: Religion, and White Supremacists
            State v. Hollin Lange and Patrick O’Malley
12 The Appellate Judge: Politics, “On the Point”
            State v. L. C. Clay
13 Indigestion (and Other Determinants)

Part Three. America’s Judiciary in the New Age of Vanishing Independence
14 Judicial Campaigns: Declarations and Contributions
15 Begging the Question: Elective or Appointive

Afterword
Fathers and Grandfathers

Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

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