“Courts in a Democracy” Gerhard Casper



“Courts in a Democracy” Gerhard Casper Professor of Law, Emeritus and President Emeritus of Stanford University (11 November 2014):

Professor Gerhard Casper delivered the first lecture within the framework of distinguished speaker seminars. The event was very well attended by students and scholars from different disciplines and institutions and made impact in mainstream media (Hürriyet). Professor Casper’s lecture focused on the conundurum: “the agency of independent judges in a democracy. In what way are judges both agents and independent?” He defined the most important accountability mechanisms for judges in democracies are the requirement that judges publicly offer reasons for their decisions, the appellate review of lower court decisions, and critical professional and public attention to the judiciary’s work and record. Professor Casper’s talk will be published on web page of College of Law.