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This seminar explores the academic literature relevant to the activity of U.S. trial courts, focusing on how the evidence from trial courts can help shed light on large-scale philosophical debates about courts. At a theoretical level, the course will be broken down into two main themes. The first will relate to ¿rule of law,¿ and especially the idea that judges in U.S. courts base decisions on legal, rather than personal, considerations. An important part of this discussion will be to consider what it is we can learn about rule of law from lower courts that cannot be learned from studying the activity of the Supreme Court. Thus, we will consider evidence both of political decision-making at the level of trial courts, as well as evidence of rule-following behavior by lower court judges. The second main theme of the course will relate to procedural justice. Trial courts are, fundamentally, creatures of procedure. Therefore consideration of norms of procedural justice demands connection to the actual activity of trial courts. In this section of the course, we will talk about the psychological theories of procedural justice as well as explore how well the activity of trial courts measures up in empirical studies of citizen interactions with trial procedures. Overall, the goal of this course will be to think critically about the activity of trial courts and the role they play in the court system and society more broadly. COURSE REQUIREMENTS ¿ Participation and Attendance: Students must attend seminar and participate in order to do well in the course. The seminar will be discussion-based; further, students may be called upon randomly in seminar, so all should come prepared to discuss the readings. ¿ Research Papers: Every student must turn in a final research paper (about 20-30 pages in length). Papers will be due April , 2009. Students will be given broad leeway in determining the form of their final paper. Suggestions include the following: 1. Students may choose to write a literature review involving the theoretical connections between legal theory and the empirical literature on judicial behavior, drawing on the readings from class as well as including relevant external references; such a paper is expected to expand upon the themes covered in class rather than merely to summarize course material. 2. Students may propose an original empirical research project that addresses holes in the literature on judicial behavior from the perspective of legal philosophy; such a paper is expected to detail a research methodology/strategy as well as explain how it is that the proposed project will fill gaps in existing knowledge. In addition, the student should consider and address any practical problems associated with conducting the research. 3. Students may write a thoughtful consideration of the limits of data and/or quantitative measurement in understanding legal behavior. Such a paper should include a thorough discussion of examples that illustrate their argument¿as well as potential counter-examples. ¿ Instructor Consultations: Every student must meet with the instructor for a one-on-one discussion of the student¿s research project during the sixth week of the term. Students are expected to come to the consultation with a specific idea for their anticipated research project. It is expected that students will have begun thinking about the theme and form of the project as well as have some idea as to the relevant literature prior to this meeting. The goal of the meeting is to ensure that all the students have an appropriate paper topic and are making adequate progress. The meeting is mandatory and students will be evaluated on the basis of preparation to encourage them to begin thinking about their projects early in the term. COURSE GRADING Course grades will be determined based on the following components: Class Participation/Attendance 25% Instructor Consultation 5% Research Project 70%