The judiciary are different than you and me, not just because they have life tenure, but because they spend years being petitioned by real people.
September
2025
Article
Administrative adjudication is poised for avulsive change. The Supreme Court recently pronounced some administrative law judges (ALJs) constitutional officers that must be appointed by the President, a department head, or a court of law.
At first glance, patent law might seem the least likely place to look for Judge Richard Posner’s impact on the law.
Richard Posner was certainly the most able judge in the history of tort law and in the development and deployment of law and economics.
The hallmark of Judge Posner’s class action decisions is rigorous review to ensure that aggregate litigation serves the best interests of class members and does not unduly pressure defendants to settle.
Many of Richard Posner’s opinions boldly confront great questions. But equally important are those that, in the aggregate, illuminate discrete areas of the law and make them easier to understand.
Richard Posner is the most prolific federal judge and academic in the history of American law.
We occupy a unique moment in the story of American religious liberty. During the Founding period and for much of the twentieth century, it was widely accepted that religious accommodation—the practice of sometimes exempting religious individuals or groups from burdensome laws—was a desirable means of protecting free exercise. But as a matter of cultural consensus, that agreement seems to be quickly unraveling or at least entering a new period of uncertainty.
Cities and towns across the country face debt burdens of a magnitude not seen since the Great Depression. Four of the five largest municipal bankruptcies in history have been filed in the last decade, and more are bound to come.
How should we judge people who act for both good and bad motives?