Paul J. De Muniz delivers the 17th Justice William J. Brennan Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice (VIDEO)

Photo of Paul De Muniz, Oscar Chase, Jonathan LippmanPaul J. De Muniz, chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, delivered the 17th Justice William J. Brennan Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice on October 27. De Muniz’s talk, "Overturning Precedent: The Case for Judicial Activism in Reengineering State Courts" addressed measures court officials need to take to cope with burgeoning dockets and shrinking budgets. State court systems today, said De Muniz, are regarded as “too big, too costly, and too cumbersome,” and need to change if they hope to maintain their fiscal and institutional independence.

The lecture was sponsored by the Law School’s Dwight D. Opperman Institute of Judicial Administration (IJA). Oscar Chase, Russell D. Niles Professor of Law and co-director of the ICJ, offered preliminary remarks, and Jonathan Lippman ‘68, chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, introduced De Muniz.

Watch the full lecture (1 hr 17 min):

Posted November 3, 2010