The Evolution of Judicial Independence in America

The National Constitution Center and the Federal Judicial Center present three discussions exploring the evolution of judicial independence in America and its critical role in our democracy from the Founding to present day.    

The first panel features a conversation with historians Mary Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School and Jack Rakove of Stanford University, exploring the founders’ intentions surrounding the establishment of the federal judiciary and the role of the courts during the nation’s formative years. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.   

The second panel explores judicial independence and the federal courts in the 20th century and the major milestones that shaped the judiciary, including the crucial role of Chief Justice Taft and key Supreme Court rulings. Moderated by Jeffrey Rosen, this panel features scholars Neal Devins and Allison Orr Larsen of William & Mary Law School, Marin Levy of Duke University School of Law.    

 The third panel features two federal judges discussing their experiences upholding judicial independence in the face of contemporary challenges. Clara Altman, deputy director of the Federal Judicial Center, moderates a conversation with Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Sara Lee Ellis of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  

 This program is presented in partnership with the Federal Judicial Center. 

Video

Podcast

Participants

• Panel I
   
  • Mary Sarah Bilder is Founders Professor of Law at Boston College. Bilder is the author of three books, including The Transatlantic Constitution, Madison’s Hand, and most recently, Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution. 
     
  • Jack Rakove is the William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies, Emeritus and a professor of political science and law at Stanford University. He is the author and editor of many books, including Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution and most recently Beyond Belief, Beyond Conscience: The Radical Significance of the Free Exercise of Religion. 
     
  • Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
     
• Panel II
  • Neal Devins is the Sandra Day O'Connor Professor of Law and Professor of Government at the College of William & Mary. He is the author of Shaping Constitutional Values: Elected Government, the Supreme Court, and the Abortion Debate as well as the co-author of Political Dynamics of Constitutional Law, The Democratic Constitution, and The Company They Keep: How Partisan Divisions Came to the Supreme Court.
  • Allison Orr Larsen is the Engh Research Professor, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, and Alfred W. & Mary I.W. Lee Professor of Law at William & Mary, where she also directs the Institute of the Bill of Rights Law. She has testified about the U.S. Supreme Court before both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Presidential Commission on Supreme Court Reform.
  • Marin Levy is professor of law at Duke University, where she also serves as the director of Duke’s Program in Public Law. She is the co-author of Federal Standards of Review: Appellate Court Review of District Court Decisions and Agency Actions and the forthcoming volume, Written and Unwritten: The Rules, Practices, and Internal Operations of the United States Courts of Appeals. 
  • Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
     
• Panel III
  • The Honorable R. Guy Cole, Jr. is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
     
  • The Honorable Sara Lee Ellis is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
     
  • Clara Altman is the deputy director of the Federal Judicial Center.

Additional Resources

• Panel I
   
  • National Constitution Center, "Article III," Interactive Constitution
  • Jack Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution
  • Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention
  • James Madison, Notes on the Federal Convention of 1787
  • Federalist 78
  • Marbury v. Madison (1803)
  • McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
  • Alexander Bickle, The Least Dangerous Branch: The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics
  • John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of the Government of the United States
  • Ed. Max Skjönsberg, Catharine Macaulay: Political Writings
  • Wendell Bird, Criminal Dissent: Prosecutions under the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798
     
• Panel II
  • Booth v. United States (1934)
  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Fireside Chat No. 9: "On Court-Packing"
  • Edwin Meese, Speech before the American Bar Association (1985)
  • Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure
  • Report of the Proceedings of the Federal Judicial Conference of the United States (1964)
  • Amy Gardner and Matt DeLong, "Newt Gingrich's assault on 'activist judges' draws criticism, even from right," The Washington Post
  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
  • United States v. Nixon (1974)
  • Bush v. Gore (2000)
  • Michael Boyd, "Constitutional cases resulting from the 9/11 attacks," Constitution Daily blog
  • Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, Draft Final Report
  • Neal Devins and Allison Orr Larsen, "Circuit Personalities," Virginia Law Review

Full Transcripts

View the Transcript of Panel 1

View the Transcript of Panel 2

View the Transcript of Panel 3

This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.

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