“Don't they Understand Judicial Independence?” Discourses of Judging in Undergraduate Legal Studies Classrooms: Judicial Retention and Same-Sex Marriage Rulings

Abstract

Undergraduate legal studies classrooms are ideal places in which to engage discourses on judging, and to invite students to analyze and understand contemporary cultural and political representations of the proper roles of judges and judging in democracies. This chapter examines undergraduate understandings of judicial independence and judicial activism, via class discussions surrounding the judicial retention election in Iowa in 2010. The election was occasioned by the groundbreaking state supreme court case Varnum et al. v. Brien (2009), legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. Drawing on participant–observation research as a professor in these courses, and examining student dialogue, class discussion, and web-board postings on the topic, I find that legal studies students are able to articulate a complex range of views regarding the judiciary, judicial activism, and same-sex marriage. Their ability to engage in (mostly) civil discourse on the topic of judging is of particular societal importance, given the limitations of contemporary public discourses about judging. These findings point, as well, to the potential role for engaged academics in expanding and contextualizing public conversations about judicial independence, judicial activism, and rights. The chapter also highlights, however, limits in that educational experience, in particular students' lionization of legal processes, simultaneous to their cynicism about, and lack of engagement in, electoral/political processes. This points to the development of interdisciplinary legal studies curricula as a means toward effective education for democracy.

Citation

Cramer, R.A. (2012), "“Don't they Understand Judicial Independence?” Discourses of Judging in Undergraduate Legal Studies Classrooms: Judicial Retention and Same-Sex Marriage Rulings", Sarat, A. (Ed.) Special Issue: The Discourse of Judging (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 58), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 45-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-4337(2012)0000058006