Document Type
Response or Comment
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
Judges are human, and they compete for cases because they are susceptible to the same kinds of very human incentives as the rest of us. But what is unusual about federal judges is their workplace: they have a glorious dead-end job that's missing traditional carrots and sticks. This dynamic produces some strange results, including forum selling, where judges seek more work for the same pay. In conversation with Why Do Judges Compete for Cases?, this Response suggests that forum selling (and its attendant risks and harms) is inevitable, because judges, like the rest of us, will act out of self-interest to improve the nature of their work and its rewards. And that's especially true when ambitious, driven people find themselves in these important but ultimately dead-end roles with decades of similar work ahead of them.
Recommended Citation
Merritt McAlister, Judges Compete Because They are Human, 104 B.U. L. Rev. 2049 (2024).