NCJ Number
122621
Date Published
1989
Length
67 pages
Annotation
The Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit appears to have designed an effective procedure for deciding non-argument cases.
Abstract
The study was based primarily on interviews conducted in 1989 with judges, staff attorneys, and several other key participants in the non-argument decisionmaking process. The key feature of this procedure is the conference calendar where a panel of three judges and all the court's staff attorneys meet six times a year and discuss approximately sixty non-argument cases. At the conference, judges discuss each case in turn, calling on the staff attorneys when necessary either for additional information or for their view of the case. At the end of the discussion in each case, the judges decide the case. About one third of the court's merit decisions are disposed of each year by this method. In the judges' view, the conferencing calendar provides an opportunity for face-to-face decisionmaking, which considerably enhances the quality of the decision. Nearly as important, it provides an opportunity for judges and staff attorneys to work together more closely, with benefits for both. Appendix.