The Federal courts : challenge and reform /

Posner updates and substantially revises the 1985 edition (CH, Jun'85) of his analysis of the role and problems of the federal courts. He argues that it is no longer accurate to say these courts are "in crisis," since the growth of their workloads has leveled to reasonable proportions and a much larger federal judiciary has done a good job of coping with the vast caseload expansion. The continuing challenge is to deal more effectively with the enormous burdens still placed on litigants, judges, and the system generally by a litigious culture and the effects of the constitutional rights revolution. The book examines a number of much-debated incremental reforms, such as increasing users' fees, applying those fees to indigents, limiting diversity jurisdiction, expanding of Alternative Dispute Resolution and other diversion options, dividing work and responsibility more rationally between state and federal courts, and greater judicial specialization. Posner also considers more fundamental reforms that require a reexamination of the role of courts in the context of separation of powers and federalism principles. The chapter on judicial self-restraint as a structural rather than an ideological prescription is particularly challenging. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. J. B. Grossman; Johns Hopkins University

In a revised and substantially improved edition of his classic 1985 book, The Federal Courts: Crisis and Reform, Posner, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, provides an insightful and distinctive examination of the problems and challenges that have arisen from the unprecedented growth in caseload in federal courts. He shows that this growth has had many consequences for the structure and operation of the federal judiciary. Using an economic approach to litigation to assess the costs and benefits of reforming the federal judiciary, Posner raises critical objections to simple palliatives for judicial reform, such as specialized courts or limiting or abolishing diversity jurisdiction. Instead, he proposes fundamental reforms for the role of federal courts within our federal system. Posner's thoughtful analysis is highly recommended for academic and law libraries.‘Steven Puro, St. Louis Univ. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.