Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Judicature
Publication Date
2014
ISSN
0022-5800
Page Number
196
Keywords
judicial panel on multidistrict litigation, chief justice, judicial conference
Disciplines
Civil Law | Judges | Law
Abstract
The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (or "MDL Panel") is one of a small number of special federal courts created pursuant to Article III by Congress and staffed by a Chief-Justice-appointed group of Article III judges for limited terms. The MDL Panel is a powerful judicial institution with substantial discretion over complex litigation in the United States. For all practical purposes, it controls where many of the most far-reaching and significant private civil actions will be resolved which can affect procedural and substantive rights of the parties. An understanding of who has served on the MDL Panel would shed light on both its structure and its decisions. In this article, we provided an analysis of the composition of the Panel, as well as comparing Panel appointments by the Chief Justice to those of the Judicial Conference Committees.
Recommended Citation
Tracey E. George and Margaret S. Williams,
The Judges of the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, 97 Judicature. 196
(2014)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/653