University of Wisconsin–Madison

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Letter Opposing the Confirmation of Ed Martin as U.S. Attorney

On May 1, 2025, the Society for the Rule of Law Institute submitted a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee strongly opposing the confirmation of Ed Martin as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Citing his history of extreme rhetoric and ideological advocacy, the Institute warned that Martin lacks the character and competence required …

Jakab (2020), “Informal Institutional Elements as Both Preconditions and Consequences of Effective Formal Legal Rules: The Failure of Constitutional Institution Building in Hungary”

An analysis of the role of Hungarian lawyers who are blind and to a certain extent, also defenseless against recent authoritarian tendencies.

Michalowski (1995), “Between Citizens and the Socialist State: The Negotiation of Legal Practice in Socialist Cuba”

An examination of both the relationship between the ideological and legal bases for the socialist practice of law in Cuba and the actual practice of law in one bufete colectivo.

Savelsberg (2000), “Contradictions, Law, and State Socialism”

An examination of the relationship of law to antagonisms and contradictions within state socialism, explored from a Weberian and a Marxian perspective.

Titaev and Shkliaruk (2016), “Investigators in Russia: Who Creates Practice in the Investigation of Criminal Cases”

Analyzes the role of investigators in the Russian criminal justice process.

Solomon, Jr. (1987), “The Case of the Vanishing Acquittal: Informal Norms and the Practice of Soviet Criminal Justice”

Explains the institutional reasons behind the decrease in acquittals following the death of Stalin due to the fears of judges and prosecutors of being held accountable for bringing unsustainable cases. 

Newcity (2005), “Why Is There No Russian Atticus Finch? Or Even a Russian Rumpole”

An exploration of the differences in the societal expectations of lawyers in the United States and Russia, concluding that the sort of respect afforded to Atticus Finch is notably absent in Russia.

Khozhdaeva and Rabovski (2016), “Strategies and Tactics of Criminal Defenders in Russia in the Context of Accusatorial Bias”

Analysis of the institutional weakness of criminal defense lawyers in Russia due to the informal coalition between judges and prosecutors.

Chua (2019), “Legal Mobilization and Authoritarianism”

An examination of legal power in the lens that authoritarianism is all over.

Goldstein (2022), “The Attorney’s Duty to Democracy: Legal Ethics, Attorney Discipline, and the 2020 Election”

An analysis of the roles that attorneys have played in facilitating democratic backsliding internationally to draw lessons for the American legal ethics regime.