Judicial Sincerity

40 Pages Posted: 20 Sep 2006 Last revised: 16 Jun 2010

See all articles by Micah Schwartzman

Micah Schwartzman

University of Virginia School of Law

Date Written: September 1, 2006

Abstract

The idea that judges have a duty to be sincere or candid in their legal opinions has been subject to systematic criticism in recent years. Critics have argued that a strong presumption in favor of candor threatens judicial legitimacy, deters positive strategic action on multi-member courts, reduces the clarity and coherence of doctrine, erodes collegiality, and promotes the proliferation of fractured opinions. Against these and other objections, I defend the view that judges have a duty to give sincere public justifications for their legal decisions. After distinguishing the concepts of sincerity and candor, I argue that the values of legal justification and publicity support a principle of judicial sincerity. This principle imposes weaker constraints than a general duty of judicial candor. But while candor may be desirable, judges who provide sincere justifications for their decisions satisfy the demands of legitimate adjudication.

Keywords: judicial candor, sincerity, publicity, public justification, legal justification

Suggested Citation

Schwartzman, Micah, Judicial Sincerity (September 1, 2006). Virginia Law Review, Vol. 94, No. 4, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=931435

Micah Schwartzman (Contact Author)

University of Virginia School of Law ( email )

580 Massie Road
Charlottesville, VA 22903
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
282
Abstract Views
2,097
Rank
196,206
PlumX Metrics