November 14, Courts, Campaigns, and Corruption: Judicial Recusal Five Years After Caperton

Courts, Campaigns, and Corruption: Judicial Recusal Five Years After Caperton 
November 14, 2014, 9:00AM-4:00PM
Greenberg Lounge (40 Washington Square South)

Register here.

The New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the American Bar Association’s Center for Professional Responsibility are jointly hosting a Symposium on Friday, November 14^th, 2014 entitled “Courts, Campaigns, and Corruption: Judicial Recusal Five Years After Caperton.”

The 2009 Supreme Court decision in Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal Co. held that a litigant’s due process rights can be violated when an elected judge refuses recusal in a case in which that judge received significant campaign support from a litigant. The majority emphasized that Caperton was an extreme case, urging states to adopt recusal rules more stringent than the minimum necessary to protect due process. The dissent warned that “the cure was worse than the disease,” predicting a flood of recusal motions would swamp state courts following the decision.

The Symposium will look at the state of affairs five years after Caperton. We will examine the effects of Caperton in the courtroom, evaluate the current state of judicial recusal reform, and discuss the issue of judicial partiality and recusal beyond the context of campaign spending. The Symposium will consist of three panels focusing on different areas of the Caperton decision and issues of bias and recusal, and a lunch roundtable during which several judges will discuss judicial perspectives on those issues.  The topics for the panels and the roundtable are described in greater detail below.

Schedule

Registration: Coffee/Tea will be served                                                         8:30 – 9:00 a.m.

Introductory Remarks:                                                                                    9:00 – 9:15 a.m.

Panel 1: Caperton and the Courts: Did the Floodgates Open?                       9:15 – 10:30 a.m.

Break:                                                                                                              10:30 – 10:45 a.m.

Panel 2: The State of Recusal Reform                                                            10:45 – 12:00 p.m.

Break/Pick-Up Lunch:                                                                                    12:00 – 12:30 p.m.

Judicial Lunch: A View From the Bench                                                       12:30 – 2:00 p.m.

Break:                                                                                                              2:00 – 2:15 p.m.

Address from Dean Morrison:                                                                        2:15 – 2:30 p.m.

Panel 3: Caperton’s Next Generation: Beyond the Bank                               2:30 – 3:45 p.m.

Closing Remarks:                                                                                            3:45 – 4:00 p.m.