Separation of Powers and the Scope of Federal Equitable Remedies

Abstract

In recent years, both popular I and academic 2 attention has begun to focus on the innovative and expansive remedies that federal courts have utilized with increasing frequency, especially against state governments. These forms of relief raise the question whether the judiciary has begun to tolerate in itself a blending of functions that would never be tolerated in another branch of government. 3 Federal district courts largely have assumed the duties of administering a state mental health system 4 and a state prison. 5 Many feder

Court-Driven Reform and Equal Educational Opportunity: Centralization, Decentralization, and the Shifting Judicial Role

“…Compounded by the fact that relevant legal rules and doctrines in cases involving equal educational opportunity tend to be ambiguous and offer courts little guidance (Kaufman, 2005), judicial decisions and remedies have often been ineffective and sometimes unwise (Superfine, 2008). Observers have also criticized judicial action in public law litigation aimed at educational reform on more theoretical grounds based on traditional notions of the separation of powers-by restructuring agencies and school systems, the courts unjustifiably expanded their authority into the realm of the executive and legislative branches and thereby compromised the principles of federalism and local autonomy (Nagel, 1978).…”

Election Administration in Crisis: An Early Look at Lessons from Bush versus Gore

“…For this reason appellate courts typically defer to the trial judge on the particulars of the remedy. Even then, there is considerable analysis criticizing the legitimacy and effectiveness of judicial remedies in achieving administrative reform (Melnick 1983;Nagel 1978;Rosenberg 1991). The compressed schedule of the presidential election dispute, which involved conducting a statewide recount in Florida, truncated the judicial process.…”

Using lock-free objects in hard real-time applications

“…31 They also contended that judges lack coherent guidelines for resolving policy conflicts and that, therefore, they fail to undertake a comprehensive policy review or to consider the overall implications and consequences of their orders. 32 Additional troubling aspects of the remedial decree in institutional reform litigations, from this point of view, are its "long duration and wide impact," 33 and the fact that the remedy has extensive "consequences for third parties." 34 Defenders of this new remedial role retorted that the courts' lack of established organizational mechanisms is a virtue, not a vice, because it permits a flexible response that can be tailored to the needs of the particular situation.…”