Cognitive Aging and the Federal Circuit Courts: How Senescence Influences the Law and Judges considers recent advances in neuroscience to identify the effects of cognitive aging among federal circuit court judges to make timely recommendations about judicial independence and institutional reforms.
"Cognitive aging effects all people. Judges are people. Therefore, cognitive aging must effect judges. Today's federal circuit court judges are older than ever. Yet, scholars know next-to-nothing about the consequences of cognitive aging on these judges. The central effort of this book is to examine the effects of cognitive aging on federal circuit court judges. The authors undertake a rigorous empirical approach, focusing on a variety of judicial behaviors, including opinion writing, bargaining, voting, and more. The book uncovers a number of sobering trends. Judges require more time to craft their opinions as they age. They tend to rely more on cognitive shortcuts when they bargain over opinion content. Their written opinions become less cognitively complex as they age. Aging judges increasingly rely on their law clerks to write their opinions and borrow more language from party briefs. Their judicial colleagues are less likely to cite older judges' opinions. Aging judges apply Supreme Court precedent an increasingly ideological manner. And, their legal influence on panels wanes while susceptibility to persuasion increases. Cognitive aging appears to influence nearly everything federal circuit court judges do. These findings speak to a broader policy debate about judicial tenure. The authors test public support for a handful of reforms and find surprisingly high support for them. There is no utopian or perfect cure for the problems associated with cognitively aging judges. But incremental changes that remain loyal to judicial independence might alleviate some of the most pernicious consequences"--
The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.
As our society ages, the topic of cognitive aging is becoming increasingly important. This volume provides an accessible overview of how the cognitive system changes as a function of normal aging. Building on the successful first edition, this volume provide an even more comprehensive coverage of the major issues affecting memory, attention, language, speech and other aspects of cognitive functioning. The essential chapters from the first edition have been thoroughly revised and updated and new chapters have been introduced which draw in neuroscience studies and more applied topics. In addition, contributors were encouraged to ensure their chapters are accessible to students studying the topic for the first time. This therefore makes the volume appealing as a textbook on senior undergraduate and graduate courses.
Judges and legal scholars talk past one another, if they have any conversation at all. Academics criticize judicial decisions in theoretical terms, which leads many judges to dismiss academic discourse as divorced from reality. Richard Posner reflects on the causes and consequences of this widening gap and what can be done to close it.
The population of Asia is growing both larger and older. Demographically the most important continent on the world, Asia's population, currently estimated to be 4.2 billion, is expected to increase to about 5.9 billion by 2050. Rapid declines in fertility, together with rising life expectancy, are altering the age structure of the population so that in 2050, for the first time in history, there will be roughly as many people in Asia over the age of 65 as under the age of 15. It is against this backdrop that the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA) asked the National Research Council (NRC), through the Committee on Population, to undertake a project on advancing behavioral and social research on aging in Asia. Aging in Asia: Findings from New and Emerging Data Initiatives is a peer-reviewed collection of papers from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand that were presented at two conferences organized in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, Indonesian Academy of Sciences, and Science Council of Japan; the first conference was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, and the second conference was hosted by the Indian National Science Academy in New Delhi. The papers in the volume highlight the contributions from new and emerging data initiatives in the region and cover subject areas such as economic growth, labor markets, and consumption; family roles and responsibilities; and labor markets and consumption.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was born in the early 1980s as part of the drive to liberalize and reinvigorate the American economy. Its docket covers the rules guiding patents, innovation, globalization, and much of government. Are these rules impelling the economy forward or holding it back? Are the policies that we have the policies that we want? The Secret Circuit demystifies this Court's work and answers these questions.
Family caregiving affects millions of Americans every day, in all walks of life. At least 17.7 million individuals in the United States are caregivers of an older adult with a health or functional limitation. The nation's family caregivers provide the lion's share of long-term care for our older adult population. They are also central to older adults' access to and receipt of health care and community-based social services. Yet the need to recognize and support caregivers is among the least appreciated challenges facing the aging U.S. population. Families Caring for an Aging America examines the prevalence and nature of family caregiving of older adults and the available evidence on the effectiveness of programs, supports, and other interventions designed to support family caregivers. This report also assesses and recommends policies to address the needs of family caregivers and to minimize the barriers that they encounter in trying to meet the needs of older adults.
