Acknowledgments

An old quip, which a quick search reveals has been attributed at least to Mark Twain and H. L. Mencken, begins with a question about belief in infant baptism: “Believe in it?,” the reply runs. “I’ve seen it!” In this book, I make arguments in favor of what seem to me to be some out-of-fashion ideas relating to the importance of character and traits including wisdom and intellectual humility. I believe in them. I have also seen them. I’ve been fortunate over the course of my career to have worked with many lawyers whose judgment I have long admired and sought to emulate. Judge Jane Roth gave me my first real job as one of her law clerks, and I could not have asked for a better initial role model. I realized in the moment that I had it good, and the passage of time and accumulation of perspective have only strengthened that sense. My colleagues in practice, both at what was then Faegre & Benson (now Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP) and at the Minnesota State Public Defender, showed me what it meant to be a lawyer in a full sense of the word. I carry their examples with me still, and I measure every lawyer and judge I meet against the standards they set.

This book’s origin and, in an important sense, my entire career in legal academia both date back to a seminar entitled “The Judicial Process,” taught by Judge H. Robert Mayer of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which I took during my last semester of law school. The paper I wrote for that class, about the use of baseball metaphors in judicial opinions, became my first publication. The seminar spurred a long-standing scholarly interest in judicial behavior, processes, and institutions. It also led me to create my own class, entitled “Judging and the Judicial Process,” which I first taught over fifteen years ago. This book is a product of that scholarship and the various iterations of that class, and I am grateful for the students who have taken it over the years and who in doing so pushed me to develop and refine my materials and my thought.

Thanks are due to a great many others. Marquette University Law School has provided me with a supportive environment in which to pursue my scholarly interests, and I am grateful to my colleagues there, especially to Dean Joseph Kearney for his consistent encouragement and support. Nathan Ballantyne, Atiba Ellis, Charlie Geyh, Neil Hamilton, and Brian Tamanaha were kind enough to field questions from me as this project developed, and a great many other colleagues, only some of whom are cited in the pages that follow, have helped shaped my thought over the years. Lisa Andrewski provided excellent research support and feedback on much of the manuscript. My colleagues Bruce Boyden, Christine Chabot, Nadelle Grossman, Nathan Hammons, Alex Lemann, Matt Mitten, Kali Murray, Michael O’Hear, and Jason Reinecke read and provided valuable feedback on portions of the manuscript. Todd Peppers, who was also a student in Judge Mayer’s seminar, answered questions, gave feedback, and provided consistent encouragement. I am fortunate to be his friend and occasional collaborator. My wife Lea and my daughters Ada, Audrey, and Laura provided support, encouragement, and inspiration. I love them each deeply and am grateful to share life’s journey with them. Our dogs Mango and Retta kept vigilant watch over the neighborhood as I worked and reliably warned me of approaching mail carriers.