Jed S. Rakoff

FDR’s Compliant Justices

The Supreme Court’s deference to FDR during World War II resulted in unjustifiable ethical breaches, but its new code of conduct has not resolved the question of when a justice should be disqualified from a case.

The Most Conservative Branch

In his new book, Reading the Constitution, Stephen Breyer criticizes recent Supreme Court decisions on issues such as abortion and gun rights as the product of rigid and imperfect reasoning rather than of ideology, and he argues for a more pragmatic jurisprudence.

The Frontier Justice

William O. Douglas was a strong advocate of conservation and environmentalism, but as a Supreme Court justice his involvement in such issues was often ethically questionable.

A Prisoner of His Own Restraint

Felix Frankfurter was renowned as a liberal lawyer and advocate. Why did he turn out to be such a conservative Supreme Court justice?

The Rich Get Richer

The law professor Marc Steinberg lays out a series of reasonable proposals for reforming securities law, but Congress is unlikely to act.

Sentenced by Algorithm

Computer programs used to predict recidivism and determine prison terms have a high error rate, a secret design, and a demonstrable racial bias.

Getting Away With Murder

It’s time to start prosecuting executives for crimes they commit on behalf of their companies.

Covid in the Prisons

Covid & the Courts

Jailed by Bad Science

Washington’s Legacy for American Jews

As Washington envisaged in his letter, Americans have in so many ways become “a great and a happy people,” Jewish Americans not least among them. But eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

The Last of His Kind

Our Lying Eyes

Inaccurate eyewitness identifications appear to be the single greatest contributor to wrongful convictions.

Marshall Law

Hail to the Chief

“John Marshall, while hugely instrumental in assuring for the federal judiciary its limited supervisory role over the legislative branch, exhibited a subservience to the executive branch that continues to haunt us.”

Don’t Count on the Courts

The MVP of the Second Circuit

Will the Death Penalty Ever Die?

How can one applaud capital punishment knowing that those executed may well be innocent?

You Won’t Get Your Day in Court

Winners Should Recover Costs

Every country other than the US with a developed judicial system entitles the winners in civil suits to recover their litigation costs from the losers.