Tagged: strict constructionist

“Individual employment arbitration exemplifies the decline of the civil jury. Companies require individuals to submit employment disputes to private judges. The Supreme Court’s seminal decision, Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., signals broad approval of this workplace dispute resolution method. The problem is that employees are pressured to waive access to a judicial forum, including a jury. A few years after Gilmer, millions of employees are now required to arbitrate. Firms embrace arbitration to lower dispute costs. But that is beginning to change as employers question its value. Key rulings make trials less expensive, while arbitrations are more costly. Remarkably, some employers are discarding arbitration to return to court, but with a condition: employees must waive access to a jury and agree to a bench trial.”

Source: Michael H. LeRoy. “Jury Revival or Jury Reviled? When Employers Are Compelled To Waive Jury Trials.” U. Pa. Journal of Labor and Employment Law. pg. 768-769. 2005.

150 years ago, on Jan. 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery. The amendment, which would become the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, read, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

“We’ve got to get good, conservative judges appointed to the bench and approved by the United States Senate,” former U.S. President George W. Bush, March 27, 2002.

One of his appointments was the federal judge from the Southern District of New York who erroneously compelled this landmark human rights, employment discrimination and antitrust case into arbitration — P. Kevin Castel. His father George H. W. Bush, appointed Timothy K. Lewis to be a district and appellate judge. Lewis is currently the fraudulently appointed, replacement arbitrator overseeing my case in arbitration.

Source: Elisabeth Bumiller. “Bush Vows to Seek Conservative Judges.” New York Times. March 29, 2002. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/29/us/bush-vows-to-seek-conservative-judges.html.