Exemplary Legal Writing
2013 Honorees
Our board of advisers has selected the following works as exemplars of good legal writing from the year just passed. They will appear in the 2014 Almanac & Reader. (For the books, that means excerpts.) Congratulations to all.
Opinions for the Court
• Frank H. Easterbrook, Silverman v. Motorola Solutions, Inc., 2013 WL 4082893 (7th Cir. 2013)
• Susan Illston, In re National Security Letter, 930 F.Supp.2d 1064 (N.D. Cal. 2013)
• Brett Kavanaugh, Vann v. U.S. Department of the Interior, 701 F.3d 927 (D.C. Cir. 2012)
• Raymond Kethledge, Bennett v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 731 F.3d 584 (6th Cir. 2013)
Concurrences, Dissents, Etc.
• Rosemary Barkett, U.S. v. Bellaizac-Hurtado, 700 F.3d 1245 (11th Cir. 2012)
• Elena Kagan, American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, 133 S.Ct. 2304 (2013)
• Mark S. Massa, Indiana Gas Co. v. Indiana Finance Authority, 992 N.E.2d 678 (Ind. 2013)
• Milan D. Smith, Jr., Lane v. Facebook, Inc., 709 F.3d 791 (9th Cir. 2013)
Books
• Randall Kennedy, For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law (Pantheon Books 2013)
• Margaret Klaw, Keeping It Civil: The Case of the Pre-nup and the Porsche & Other True Accounts from the Files of a Family Lawyer (Algonquin Books 2013)
• Kenneth W. Mack, Representing the Race: The Creation of the Civil Rights Lawyer (Harvard University Press 2012)
Long Articles
• Vanessa Banni-Viñas, Correcting a Ballerina’s Story: The Truth Behind Makletzova v. Diaghileff, 53 American Journal of Legal History 353 (2013)
• John H. Langbein, The Disappearance of Civil Trial in the United States, 122 Yale Law Journal 522 (2012)
• Diane P. Wood, When to Hold, When to Fold, and When to Reshuffle: The Art of Decisionmaking on a Multi-Member Court, 100 California Law Review 1445 (2012)
News and Editorial
• Jess Bravin, In Mississippi, a Gray Area Between Black and White, Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2013 (updated March 28)
• Jack Chin, Getting Law Review Fans Out of the Closet: Liptak on Jacobs and Waxman, PrawfsBlawg, prawfsblawg.blogs.com, October 21, 2013
• Brandi Grissom, Trouble in Mind: How Should Criminals Who Are Mentally Ill Be Punished?, Texas Monthly, March 2013
Miscellany
• Stephen B. Kaplitt, Letter to Richard D. Trenk (June 17, 2013)
• David Keating, Letter to Senator Richard J. Durbin, Center for Competitive Politics (September 16, 2013)
• John G. Roberts, Jr., 2012 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary, Supreme Court of the United States, Public Information Office (December 31, 2012)
• Stephen E. Sachs, Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, and Daniel S. Epps, Brief of Professor Stephen E. Sachs as Amicus Curiae, Atlantic Marine Construction Co. v. U.S. District Court, 134 S.Ct. 568 (2013)
. . .
2012 Honorees
Opinions for the Court
• José A. Cabranes, Rivas v. Fischer, 687 F.3d 514 (2d Cir. 2012)
• John Gleeson, U.S. v. Dossie, 851 F.Supp.2d 478 (E.D.N.Y. 2012)
• Royce C. Lamberth, In re Grand Jury Subpoena, 846 F.Supp.2d 1 (D.D.C. 2012)
• Ojetta R. Thompson, Schatz v. RSLC, 669 F.3d 50 (1st Cir. 2012)
Concurrences, Dissents, Etc.
• Marsha Berzon & Richard Tallman, Miles v. Ryan, 697 F.3d 1090 (9th Cir. 2012)
• Neil Gorsuch, U.S. v. Rosales-Garcia, 667 F.3d 1348 (10th Cir. 2012)
• Elena Kagan, Williams v. Illinois, 132 S.Ct. 2221 (2012)
Books
• Dale Carpenter, Flagrant Conduct: How A Bedroom Arrest Decriminalized Gay Americans (W.W. Norton & Company 2012)
• David M. Dorsen, Henry Friendly, Greatest Judge of His Era (Harvard University Press 2012)
• J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Cosmic Constitutional Theory (Oxford University Press 2012)
Long Articles
• Charles Fried, On Judgment, 15 Lewis & Clark Law Review 1025 (2011)
• Arthur R. Miller, McIntyre in Context: A Very Personal Perspective, 63 South Carolina Law Review 465 (2012)
• Carol Sanger, “The Birth of Death”: Stillborn Birth Certificates and the Problem for Law, 100 California Law Review 269 (2012)
News and Editorial
• Tom Goldstein, We’re getting wildly differing assessments, SCOTUSblog, www.scotusblog.com, July 7, 2012
• Jill Lepore, Benched: The Supreme Court and the struggle for judicial independence, The New Yorker, June 18, 2012
• Dahlia Lithwick, Extreme Makeover: The story behind the story of Lawrence v. Texas, The New Yorker, March 12, 2012
• Jonathan Macey, Tackling the Power of the 1%, Politico, November 29, 2011
Miscellany
• Frank H. Easterbrook, Commencement Address, Swarthmore College
• Bob Kohn & Julia Alekseyeva, Brief of Bob Kohn as Amicus Curiae, U.S. v. Apple, Inc.
• Christy Susman & David Gooder, Letter to Patrick Wensink, Jack Daniel's, July 12, 2012
. . .
2011 Honorees
Opinions for the Court
• Terence Evans, G-P Consumer Prod. v. Kimberly-Clark, 647 F.3d 723 (7th Cir. 2011)
• Richard A. Posner, Flomo v. Firestone Natural Rubber Co., 643 F.3d 1013 (7th Cir. 2011)
• John G. Roberts, Jr., FCC v. AT&T Inc., 131 S.Ct. 1177 (2011)
Concurrences, Dissents, Etc.
• Charles E. Freeman & Anne M. Burke, Maksym v. Bd. of Election Comm'rs, 950 N.E.2d 1051 (Ill. 2011)
• Elena Kagan, Arizona Christian School Tuition Org. v. Winn, 131 S.Ct. 1436 (2011)
• Alex Kozinski, U.S. v. Alvarez, 638 F.3d 666 (9th Cir. 2011)
• Ann Claire Williams, U.S. v. Holcomb, 657 F.3d 445 (7th Cir. 2011)
Books
• William T. Coleman, Jr. with Donald T. Bliss, Counsel for the Situation: Shaping the Law to Realize America’s Promise (Brookings Inst. Press 2010)
• Clare Cushman, Courtwatchers: Eyewitness Accounts in Supreme Court History (Rowman & Littlefield 2011)
• William J. Stuntz, The Collapse of American Criminal Justice (Harv. Univ. Press 2011)
Short Articles
• Goodwin Liu, Pamela S. Karlan, and Christopher H. Schroeder, Constitutional Fidelity, in Keeping Faith with the Constitution (Oxford Univ. Press 2010)
• Adam White, The Burkean Justice, Weekly Standard, July 18, 2011
Long Articles
• Paul Horwitz, Our Boggling Constitution; or, Taking Text Really, Really Seriously, 26 Const. Commentary 651 (2010)
• Richard Pildes, Is the Supreme Court a “Majoritarian” Institution?, 2010 Sup. Ct. Rev. 103
News and Editorial
• Michael McConnell, Where Credit Is Due, Advancing A Free Society, July 13, 2011
• Jed Rubenfeld, His Killing Was Lawful, L.A. Times, May 16, 2011
Miscellany
• Bennett M. Epstein and Kimba M. Wood, Application in Limine for a Brief Recess, and Order, United States v. Lacey, No. 09 Cr. 507 (KMW) (S.D.N.Y Nov. 17 & 18, 2010)
• Thomas M. Melsheimer, World Champion Dallas Mavericks and Radical Mavericks Management’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Hillwood Investment Properties III, Ltd. v. Radical Mavericks Management, LLC, No. 10-05639 (Dallas County, Texas Dist. Ct. June 22, 2011)
. . .
2010 Honorees
Opinions for the Court
• Frank H. Easterbrook, Bodum USA, Inc. v. La Cafetiere, Inc., 621 F.3d 624 (7th Cir. 2010)
• John Gleeson, U.S. v. Ovid, 2010WL3940724 (E.D.N.Y.)
• John L. Kane, U.S. v. Brownfield, No. 08-cr-00452-JLK (D. Colo. 2009)
• Kevin G. Ross, State v. Wiggins, 788 N.W.2d 509 (Minn. App. 2010)
Concurrences, Dissents, Etc.
• Alex Kozinski, U.S. v. Pineda-Moreno, 617 F.3d 1120 (9th Cir. 2010)
• Diane P. Wood, Bodum USA, Inc. v. La Cafetiere, Inc., 621 F.3d 624 (7th Cir. 2010)
Books
• John H. Langbein, Renee Lettow Lerner & Bruce P. Smith, History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (Wolters Kluwer 2009)
• Martha Minow, In Brown’s Wake (Oxford University Press 2010)
• Jack Rakove, Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2010)
Short Articles
• Barbara Babcock, Clara Shortridge Foltz, in Roger K. Newman, ed., The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (Yale University Press 2009)
• Justin Driver, Why Law Should Lead, The New Republic, April 8, 2010
• Jeffrey Rosen, Roberts versus Roberts: Just how radical is the chief justice?, The New Republic, March 2, 2010
• Mary Whisner, Enact Locally, 102 Law Library Journal 497 (2010)
Long Articles
• Albert W. Alschuler, Two Ways to Think About the Punishment of Corporations, 46 American Criminal Law Review 1359 (2009)
• Allen D. Boyer, Law’s Architect, 22 Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities 127 (2010)
• Mark R. Kravitz, Written and Oral Persuasion in the United States Courts: A District Judge’s Perspective on Their History, Function, and Future, 10 Journal of Appellate Practice and Process 247 (2009)
News & Editorial
• William W. Bedsworth, No Questions Asked?, The Recorder, March 26, 2010
• Jeffrey Toobin, Without a Paddle,The New Yorker, September 27, 2010
• Nina Totenberg, Martin Ginsburg’s Legacy: Love of Justice (Ginsburg) ), Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR, July 2, 2010
Miscellany
• Heather K. Gerken, Testimony Submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, February 2, 2010
• Tony West et al., Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Memorandum in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, Al-Aulaqi v. Obama, 2010 WL 4941958 (D.D.C. filed September 25, 2010)
. . .
2009 Honorees
Opinions for the Court
• Frank H. Easterbrook, Buchmeier v. United States, 581 F.3d 561 (7th Cir. 2009) (en banc)
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg, United States v. Hayes, 129 S. Ct. 1079 (2009)
• Jed S. Rakoff, SEC v. Bank of America Corp., 2009WL2916822 (S.D.N.Y. 2009)
Concurrences, Dissents, Etc.
• Alex Kozinksi, U.S. v. Cruz, 554 F.3d 840 (9th Cir. 2009)
• John T. Noonan, Jr., Tucson Herpetological Society v. Salazar, 566 F.3d 870 (9th Cir. 2009)
• John G. Roberts, Jr., Virginia v. Harris, 130 S. Ct. 10 (2009)
• David H. Souter, U.S. v. Navajo Nation, 129 S. Ct. 1547 (2009)
Books
• Amy Bach, Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court (Metropolitan Books 2009)
• Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello (W.W. Norton & Co. 2008)
• David G. Post, In Search of Jefferson’s Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace (Oxford University Press 2009)
Short Articles
• Pamela S. Karlan, Voting Rights and the Third Reconstruction, in The Constitution in 2020 (Oxford University Press 2009) (Jack M. Balkin & Reva B. Siegel, eds.)
• David F. Levi, Autocrat of the Armchair, 58 Duke Law Journal 1791 (2009)
• Michael J. Morrissey, Dead Men Sometimes Do Tell Tales: Lessons on Cross-Examination and Life from Great Chicago Trial Lawyers (Law Bulletin 2008) (Steven F. Molo & James R. Figliulo, eds.)
Long Articles
• Lani Guinier, Courting the People: Demosprudence and the Law/Politics Divide,89 Boston University Law Review 539 (2009)
• Frederick Schauer, A Critical Guide to Vehicles in the Park, 83 NYU Law Review 1109 (2008)
• G. Edward White, Introduction to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Common Law (1881; Harvard University Press 2009 prtg.)
News & Editorial
• Eugene R. Fidell, Appellate Review of Military Commissions, Balkinization, October 8, 2009
• Dahlia Lithwick, Shit Doesn’t Happen: The Supreme Court’s 100 percent dirt-free exploration of potty words, Slate, November 4, 2008
• Kermit Roosevelt, Justice Cincinnatus: David Souter—a dying breed, the Yankee Republican, Slate, May 1, 2009
• Jeffrey Toobin, Are Obama’s judges really liberals?, The New Yorker, September 21, 2009
Miscellany
• Elena Kagan et al., Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae Supporting Petitioners, Migliaccio v. Castaneda, Nos. 08-1529 and 08-1547 (U.S. 2009)
• Martin S. Lederman, Constitutionality of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act of 2009, 33 Op. Office of Legal Counsel (2009)
• Elizabeth B. Wydra et al., Brief of Constitutional Law Professors as Amici Curiae in Support of Reversal, McDonald v. City of Chicago (7th Cir. 2009)
. . .
2008 Honorees
Opinions for Courts• Frank H. Easterbrook, FTC v. QT, Inc., 512 F.3d 858 (7th Cir. 2008)
• Robert A. Katzmann, Aris v. Mukasey, 517 F.3d 595 (2d Cir. 2008)
• M. Margaret McKeown, Anderson v. Terhune, 516 F.3d 781 (9th Cir. 2008) (en banc)
Books
• Charles Lane, The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction (Henry Holt & Co. 2008)
• Victoria F. Nourse, In Reckless Hands: Skinner v. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics (W.W. Norton & Co. 2008)
• Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges (Thomson/West 2008)
• Benjamin Wittes, Law and the Long War: The Future of Justice in the Age of Terror (Penguin Press 2008)
Short Articles
• Norman Otto Stockmeyer, To Err Is Human, To Moo Bovine: The Rose of Aberlone Story, 24 Thomas M. Cooley Law Review 491 (2007)
• Jeffrey Toobin, Death in Georgia, The New Yorker, Feb. 4, 2008
• J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Toward One America: A Vision in Law, 83 New York University Law Review 323 (2008)
Long Articles
• Michael Boudin, Judge Henry Friendly and the Mirror of Constitutional Law, 82 New York University Law Review 975 (2007)
• Lee Epstein, Kevin Quinn, Andrew D. Martin & Jeffrey A. Segal, On the Perils of Drawing Inferences About Supreme Court Justices from Their First Few Years of Service, 91 Judicature 168 (2008)
• James Robertson, Quo Vadis, Habeas Corpus?, 55 Buffalo Law Review 1063 (2008)
• Philippe Sands, The Green Light, Vanity Fair (May 2008)
Miscellany
• Richard G. Kopf, The Top Ten Things I Learned From Apprendi, Blakely, Booker, Rita, Kimbrough and Gall, osjcl.blogspot.com (2008)
• John G. Roberts, Jr., Pennsylvania v. Dunlap, 129 S. Ct. 448 (2008)
. . .
2007 Honorees
Opinions• Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 127 S. Ct. 2162 (2007) (dissent)
• Daniel L. Harris, Doherty v. Wizner, 210 Or. App. 315 (2006)
• Richard A. Posner, Gilles v. Blanchard, 477 F.3d 466 (7th Cir. 2007)
• Antonin Scalia, Zuni Public School District No. 89 v. Department of Education, 127 S. Ct. 1534 (2007) (dissent)
• Laurence H. Silberman, Parker v. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007)
• David H. Souter, Bowles v. Russell, 127 S. Ct. 2360 (2007) (dissent)
Books
• Jack L. Goldsmith, The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration (Norton 2007)
• Jan Crawford Greenburg, Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court (Penguin 2007)
• Stuart Taylor, Jr. & KC Johnson, Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case (Thomas Dunne 2007)
• G. Edward White, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (Oxford 2006)
Short Articles
• Walter Dellinger, Everything Conservatives Should Abhor, Slate, June 29, 2007
• Dennis Jacobs, The Secret Life of Judges, 75 Fordham Law Review 2855 (2007)
• Kermit Roosevelt, Originalism and the Living Constitution: Reconciliation, ACS Issue Brief (July 2007)
• Cass R. Sunstein, The Myth of the Balanced Court, American Prospect (Sept. 2007)
Long Articles
• Luther T. Munford, The Peacemaker Test: Designing Legal Rights to Reduce Legal Warfare, 12 Harvard Negotiation Law Review 377 (2007)
• Jeffrey Rosen, The Dissenter, N.Y. Times Magazine (Sept. 23, 2007)
• John Fabian Witt, Anglo-American Empire and the Crisis of the Legal Frame (Will the Real British Empire Please Stand Up?), 120 Harvard Law Review 754 (2007)
Miscellany
• Lisa Heinzerling et al., Reply Brief for Petitioners in Massachusetts v. EPA, 127 S. Ct. 1438 (2007)
• Roger W. Hughes, Legalese in the Age of IM (Instant Messaging), 8 Appellate Advocate 14 (Summer 2006)
• James R. Muirhead, Wolff v. Department of Corrections, Civ. No. 06-cv-321-PB (D.N.H. Sept. 18, 2007)
. . .
2006 Honorees
Opinions• Jay S. Bybee, Amalgamated Transit Union v. Laidlaw Transit Servs., 448 F.3d 1092 (9th Cir. 2006)
• Alex Kozinski, Jespersen v. Harrah’s, 444 F.3d 1104 (9th Cir. 2006)
• Richard Posner, Cecaj v. Gonzales, 440 F.3d 897 (7th Cir. 2006)
• John G. Roberts, Jr., Rumsfeld v. FAIR, 126 S. Ct. 1297 (2006)
• Ronald A. White, Green v. Bd. of Comm’rs, 450 F.Supp.2d 1273 (E.D. Okla. 2006)
• William G. Young, U.S. v. Kandirakis, 441 F.Supp.2d 282 (D. Mass. 2006)
Books
• Bruce Ackerman, The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy (Belknap 2005)
• Jack Goldsmith & Tim Wu, Who Controls the Internet: Illusions of a Borderless World (Oxford 2006)
• Geoffrey Robertson, The Tyrannicide Brief: The Story of the Man Who Sent Charles I to the Scaffold (Pantheon 2006; Chatto & Windus 2005)
• Benjamin Wittes, Confirmation Wars: Preserving Independent Courts in Angry Times (Rowman & Littlefield 2006)
Short Articles
• Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Smackdown!, N.Y. Times, March 12, 2006
• Duncan MacDonald, The Story of a Famous Promissory Note, 10 Scribes J. L. Writing 79 (2006)
• Jeffrey Rosen, Judicial Exposure, N.Y. Times, Jan. 29, 2006
• Jonathan M. Starble, Gimme an ‘S’: The High Court’s Grammatical Divide, Legal Times, Oct. 9, 2006
• Stuart Taylor, Jr., Something’s Rotten at Duke, Nat’l J., May 29, 2006
• Diane P. Wood, Original Intent versus Evolution: The Legal-Writing Edition, The Scrivener, Summer 2005
Long Articles
• Harold Hongju Koh, Can the President Be Torturer in Chief?, 81 Indiana L.J. 1145 (2006)
• Pierre N. Leval, Judging Under the Constitution: Dicta About Dicta, 81 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1249 (2006)
• J. Harvie Wilkinson III, The Rehnquist Court at Twilight: The Lures and Perils of Split-the-Difference Jurisprudence, 58 Stan. L. Rev. 1969 (2006)
Briefs & Motions
• Aaron M. Panner et al., Amicus Brief in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
• Seth P. Waxman et al., Amicus Brief in Smith v. Texas
Miscellany
• Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Restyled Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
• Judith S. Kaye, The Best Oral Argument I (N)ever Made, 7 J. App. Prac. & Process 191 (2005)
• Mark L. Movsesian, Samuel Williston: Brief Life of a Resilient Legal Scholar, Harv. Mag. (Jan.-Feb. 2006)
. . .
2005 Honorees
Opinions
• Paul G. Cassell, U.S. v. Angelos, 345 F. Supp. 2d 1227 (D. Utah 2004)
• Alex Kozinski (dissenting), In re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct, 425 F.3d 1179 (9th Cir. 2005)
• Mark P. Painter, Kohlbrand v. Ranieri, 823 N.E.2d 76 (Ohio Ct. App. 2005)
• James M. Rosenbaum, Rohwer v. Federal Cartridge Co., 2004 U.S. Dist. Lexis 23744 (D. Minn.)
• Antonin Scalia (dissenting), Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005)
• Diane P. Wood, Gore v. Indiana University, 416 F.3d 590 (7th Cir. 2005)
Books
• David P. Currie, The Constitution in Congress: Democrats & Whigs, 1829-1861 (Chicago 2005)
• Linda Greenhouse, Becoming Justice Blackmun (Henry Holt 2005)
• Sadakat Kadri, The Trial: A History, from Socrates to O.J. Simpson (Random House 2005)
Short Articles
• Elaine E. Bucklo, Putting Your Worst Foot Forward, Litigation, Winter 2005
• Alex Kozinski, The Appearance of Propriety, Legal Affairs, Jan./Feb. 2005
• Burt Neuborne, Courting Trouble, The American Prospect, Jan. 4, 2005
• Margaret Talbot, Supreme Confidence, The New Yorker, Mar. 28, 2005
Long Articles
• Anonymous, Jazz Has Got Copyright Law & that Ain’t Good, 118 Harv. L. Rev. 1940 (2005)
• Bryan A. Garner, Don’t Know Much About Punctuation, 83 Tex. L. Rev. 1443 (2005)
• Brian C. Kalt, The Perfect Crime, 93 Georgetown L.J. 675 (2005)
• John H. Langbein, Questioning the Trust Law Duty of Loyalty, 114 Yale L.J. 929 (2005)
Briefs and Motions
• Walter Dellinger et al., Amicus Brief in Rumsfeld v. F.A.I.R.
• Mark A. Perry et al., Amicus Brief in Van Orden v. Perry
Miscellany
• Jon O. Newman, It Can Only Get Better, 6 J. App. Prac. & Process 177 (2004)
• Charles A. Sullivan, The Under-Theorized Asterisk Footnote, 93 Georgetown L.J. 1093 (2005)
. . .