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87 Law & Contemp. Probs. i (2024)

handle is hein.journals/lcp87 and id is 1 raw text is: FOREWORD JUDGES IN THE 21ST CENTURY: CONFIDENCE LOST? BRUCE A. GREEN AND LESLIE C. LEVIN* Judges and courts are embedded in the functioning of our society and our everyday lives. They decide not only critically important societal issues such as the limits of commercial power and protection of the environment, but deeply personal issues such as who can marry and whether a pregnancy can be terminated. We learn in the popular press or on social media about significant decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts, about how judges conduct high-profile trials and pretrial proceedings, and about battles over judicial confirmations and elections. We see fictional judges in literature, on television, and in film. Some of us have personal encounters with courts as parties, witnesses, or jurors or hear others' accounts of their experiences. Any or all of this, and more, shapes our perceptions of justice in America. The public perception of judges and courts matters because we want to believe that when people are accused of a crime or have a civil dispute, judges will preside fairly, steering the proceedings toward just resolutions. In an ideal world, athletes would blame their losses on their own performances and not the officiating, and likewise, the public would attribute losing verdicts and adverse rulings to the law and facts, not the judging. The public's belief that the courts operate competently, fairly, and neutrally promotes public support for the courts, helping to maintain judicial independence from the other branches of government. Conversely, public dissatisfaction with judges and courts contributes to the weakening of the judiciary, increasing the risk that courts' decisions will be disobeyed, that people will not voluntarily turn to the courts to resolve their disputes, and that people will distrust not only courts, but the entire political system. Even after decades of research, not enough is known about how the public views most courts. The answers may differ depending on which members of the public and which courts. Recent surveys show declining confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court, perhaps attributable to dissatisfaction with its recent decisions or with some of its members' out-of-court conduct. But that may not affect how one views judges whom one encounters personally in federal district court or state proceedings.' Likewise, perceptions of trial court judges may not influence Copyright © 2024 by Bruce A. Green and Leslie C. Levin. This Article is also available online at http://lcp.law.duke.edu/.

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