Accessing the law.

• Date: 22 September 2002

PREFACE

In this special section we feature articles that continue to address questions of access to the law initially raised in The Journal by Judge Richard Arnold (1) and that also address the related problems posed by the application of technological advances to appellate practice. (2) Judge Arnold's essay has spawned a major round of academic (3) and judicial (4) comment on the topics of access to and reliance on opinions not designated for publication by appellate courts. As with all important questions of policy, the use of publication as a determinant of the precedential or persuasive value of prior decisions opens the doors of the intellectual marketplace for consideration of widely divergent points of view and related subjects. In this marketplace, appellate specialists thrive, being trained in argument and reasoning by analogy.

The articles in this section expand the discussion initiated by Judge Arnold's essay and his subsequent panel opinion in Anastasoff v. United States. (5) They provide historical perspective and analyze contemporary phenomena that those seriously interested in the integrity of the appellate process should find compelling. The continuing attention paid to publication and "no citation" roles reflects the philosophical and practical importance appellate courts attach to publication decisions, which essentially rank their...