Background
Bibliographies are often requested by faculty as they embark upon a new research project or begin to teach a new class.Footnote 1 Compiling a bibliography usually begins by making choices, which are influenced by the project’s logistics, the reader’s expectations, and the research’s subject area. These choices often have practical uses; for instance, if the compiler cannot read German, then perhaps ignoring German publications is a good choice, or perhaps the limitation is time—say, a faculty requests the information but needs it within a specific time frame.
I recently received a request for a bibliography that promised to be a large undertaking. A faculty member wanted a bibliography on judicial independence, with a focus on the behavior of individual judges across apex domestic courts and international courts. The professor further specified that the bibliography should cover the United States (US), any European country, and any other relevant jurisdiction (so, the whole world!), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and any other relevant courts I saw in the literature (so, many courts!). Materials could be in English, German, French, Italian, or Spanish (so, many languages!). The faculty member had no further narrowing qualifications because they wanted to know the contours of the scholarship that was out there before determining what to include in their upcoming seminar. Luckily, we were able to speak with an expert in the field of judicial independence who summarized the subject areas and topics most frequently covered.Footnote 2
This bibliography is the output of that project. It covers judicial independence using the following specific subjects:
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• Selection—appointment generally; chief judges; judges ad hoc; diversity (including gender, race, ethnicity, and professional backgrounds); and reappointment.
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• Terms of service—length of mandate; remuneration; external work; politicization; use of law clerks; and retirement implications.
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• Discipline and removal—standards or codes of conduct; disciplinary chambers; bias; and recusal.
The list begins with a few overview sources and then follows the basic structure of these topics. After this main list are readings that cover multiple topics almost equally, but a small number of jurisdictions/courts. The list concludes with materials for further investigation/background reading: overviews of Max Planck Encyclopedias; commentaries on specific courts/treaties where relevant; and a general list of books.
Each topic may include relevant books, book chapters, and articles. Each entry includes a note on the specific jurisdiction(s) and court(s) covered and whether the covered subject is international, domestic, and/or comparative. (I decided to list the Court of Justice of the European Union [CJEU] as international.) Generally, international materials are listed first, followed by domestic materials, and comparative sources come before those focused on one jurisdiction/court. Materials are roughly in order of potential utility, but this is an incredibly subjective determination and should not be considered controlling.Footnote 3 Some works cover multiple topics, but each source is listed only once under the main topic. In some areas of scholarship, the materials focus on the judiciary more broadly rather than individual judges, and I have noted this trend where relevant.
In terms of research methods, I first reviewed the topics in the Max Planck Encyclopedias and their bibliographies, followed by any available commentaries. I also checked for any Oxford Handbooks on the subjects.Footnote 4 To fill in any gaps in time periods or jurisdictions, I ran specific key-term searches in available library catalogsFootnote 5 and specialty databases,Footnote 6 along with Google Scholar.Footnote 7 Searches were conducted from December 2024 to March 2025.
Most materials are in English, though there are several items in Spanish, French, or German. The research was conducted in English. For those with more extensive language skills, it would be helpful to search in these languages, especially in some specialty databases not covered by general library catalogs. I would note that several articles mentioned that the independence of the judiciary and related political questions are a larger research subject in the US than in other jurisdictions, so while there are likely more materials in these languages, the material is likely to be outweighed by US/English-language coverage.Footnote 8
Overview Sources
These materials may be useful for an initial class reading or to help students who have less preexisting knowledge of the issues involved. They overview all/almost all of the topics listed below very generally.
Shelton, Dinah. “Legal Norms for Independence and Accountability of International Tribunals.” The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 2, no. 1 (2003): 27–62. [International - comparative; general coverage of most of the topics below discusses a wider variety of courts, specific treaty articles, and other rules than the Mackenzie and Sands work listed below.]
Mackenzie, Ruth, and Philippe Sands. “International Courts and Tribunals and the Independence of the International Judge.” Harvard International Law Journal 44, no. 1 (Winter 2003): 271–86. [International - comparative: very similar to the Shelton article listed above, although a bit more general.]
Jackson, Vicki C. “Judicial Independence: Structure, Context, Attitude.” In Judicial Independence in Transition, edited by Anja Seibert-Fohr (Springer, 2012). [Domestic - comparative.] This overview chapter in a larger book covers many of the topics listed below. Some of the book’s other chapters are spread throughout this bibliography. Particularly interesting—the majority of the book offers profiles on judicial independence in 20+ countries, including the US, Canada, and Western and Eastern European countries. The profiles cover selection, structure, tenure, remuneration, discipline, recusal, etc. If you want to profile a particular State, I would start with its profile in this book, if available. I might consider this source to be an update to the 1985 Shetreet profiles listed in the ‘Further Reading’ section below.
Giorgetti, Chiara, Steven Ratner, Jeffrey Dunoff, Shotaro Hamamoto, Luke Nottage, Stephan W. Schill, and Michael Waibel. “Independence and Impartiality of Adjudicators in Investment Dispute Settlement: Assessing Challenges and Reform Options.” Journal of World Investment & Trade 21, no. 2-3 (June 22, 2020): 441–74. [International - investment arbitration.]
Selection
A. Appointment
Mackenzie, Ruth. “The Selection of International Judges.” In The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication, edited by Cesare P.R. Romano, Karen J. Alter, and Yuval Shany. (Oxford University Press, 2014). [International - comparative.]
Terris, Daniel, Cesare P.R. Romano, and Leigh Swigart. The International Judge: An Introduction to the Men and Women Who Decide the World’s Cases. (Oxford University Press, 2023). [International – comparative: Chapter 2 - International Judges: Who Are They and How Do They Get on the Courts?.]
Voeten, Erik. “The Politics of International Judicial Appointments.” Chicago Journal of International Law 9, no. 2 (2009): 387–405. [International - comparative.]
Mackenzie, Ruth, Cesare P.R. Romano, Philippe Sands, and Yuval Shany. Selecting International Judges: Principle, Process, and Politics. (Oxford University Press, 2010). [International – comparative: ICJ and ICC; Chapter 2 - backgrounds; Chapter 3 - nominations; Chapter 4 - elections; Chapter 5 - reforms.]
Amerasinghe, Chittharanjan F. “Judges of the International Court of Justice – Election and Qualifications.” Leiden Journal of International Law 14 (2001): 335–48. [International - ICJ.]
Creamer, Cosette, and Zuzanna Godzimirska. “The Job Market for Justice: Screening and Selecting Candidates for the International Court of Justice.” Leiden Journal of International Law 30 (2017): 947–66. [International - ICJ.]
Marissal, Amélie. “Cultures juridiques et internationalisation des élites du droit: Le cas des juges de la Cour internationale de justice” [“Legal Cultures and Legal Elites’ Internationalization: The Judges of the International Court of Justice as a Case Study”]. Droit et Société 105 (2020): 343–59. [International - ICJ.]
Polonskaya, Ksenia. “Selecting Candidates to the Bench of the World Court: (Inevitable) Politicization and Its Consequences.” Leiden Journal of International Law 33 (2020): 409–28. [International - ICJ.]
Ingadottir, Thordis, ed. The International Criminal Court: Recommendations on Policy and Practice. International Courts and Tribunals Project, 2003. [International - ICC; Chapter 4 – Nomination and Election of Judges.] The Project on Int’l Courts and Tribunals presented these papers to the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC) when the commission was establishing the Court.
Romano, Cesare P.R., ed. Internationalized Criminal Courts: Sierra Leone, East Timor, Kosovo, and Cambodia. (Oxford University Press, 2004). [International; Serious Crimes Panels in the District Court of Dili (East Timor); ‘Regulation 64’ Panels in the courts of Kosovo; Special Court for Sierra Leone; Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.]
Bobek, Michal, ed. Selecting Europe’s Judges: A Critical Review of the Appointment Procedures to the European Courts. (Oxford University Press, 2015). [International - comparative: CJEU and ECtHR.]
Grabenwarter, Christoph, and Matti Pellonpää. “‘High Judicial Office’ and ‘Jurisconsult of Recognised Competence’: Reflections on the Qualifications for Becoming a Judge at the Strasbourg Court.” Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 80 (2020): 13–34. [International: ECtHR.]
Engel, Norbert Paul. “More Transparency and Governmental Loyalty for Maintaining Professional Quality in the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights.” Human Rights Law Journal 32 (2012): 448–55. [International: ECtHR.]
Battaglia, Francesco. “The Selection of Judges and Advocate-General at the Court of Justice of the European Union: The Role of the Panel Established Under Art. 255 TFEU.” In Judicial Power in a Globalized World, edited by Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque and Krzysztof Wojtyczek. (Springer, 2019). [International: ECtHR; how it interacts with State judicial councils.]
Swart, Mia. “Judicial Independence at the Regional and Sub-Regional African Courts.” South African Public Law 29 (2017): 388–407. [International – comparative: ACtHPR, Afr. Comm’n on Human and People’s Rights, ECOWAS, SADC Tribunal.]
Tiede, Lydia Brashear. “Selecting Judges.” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour, edited by Lee Epstein, Gunnar Grendstad, Urška Šadl, and Keren Weinshall. (Oxford University Press, 2024). [Domestic - comparative: sections on diversity (gender, ethnic/racial, experience).]
Gee, Graham. “The Persistent Politics of Judicial Selection: A Comparative Analysis.” In Judicial Independence in Transition, edited by Anja Seibert-Fohr. (Springer, 2012). [Domestic - comparative.]
Epstein, Lee, Jack C. Knight, and Olga Shvetsova. “Comparing Judicial Selection Systems.” William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 10 (2001): 7–36. [Domestic – comparative: US and Europe, constitutional courts.]
Shetreet, Shimon. “The Rule of Universality and Particularity: Judicial Independence, Judicial Appointments, and Other Issues.” In Challenged Justice: In Pursuit of Judicial Independence, edited by Shimon Shetreet, Hiram Chodosh, and Eric Helland. (Brill, 2021). [Domestic - comparative: plus a case study of India; general overview of appointment and renewal; small section on tenure.]
Stüwe, Klaus. “The U.S. Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court: Selection, Nomination, and Election of Justices.” In Constitutional Courts in Comparison: The U.S. Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court, edited by Ralf Rogowski and Thomas Gawron. (Berghahn Books, 2016). [Domestic – comparative: Germany and the US.]
Kischel, Uew. “Party, Pope, and Politics? The Election of German Constitutional Court Justices in Comparative Perspective.” International Journal of Constitutional Law 11, no. 4 (2012): 962–80. [Domestic: Germany, influence of party affiliation in the selection process.]
Landfried, Christine. “The Selection Process of Constitutional Court Judges in Germany.” In Appointing Judges in an Age of Judicial Power, edited by Kate Malleson and Peter H. Russell, 229–41, (University of Toronto Press, 2006). [Domestic: Germany.] This book has many chapters on a variety of jurisdictions, but they discuss the systems as a whole with little treatment of the apex courts. Some of these chapters might be useful for general comparisons; for example, the French chapter would be a good introduction for those students who find a civil service career as a judge to be an entirely new idea.
Landfried, Christine. “Die Wahl der Bundesverfassungsrichter und ihre Folgen für die Legitimität der Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit.” In Das Bundesverfassungsgericht im politischen System, edited by R.C. van Ooyen and M.H. Möllers. (VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2006). [Domestic: Germany.]
Shetreet, Shimon, and Sophie Turenne. Judges on Trial: The Independence and Accountability of the English Judiciary. 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2014). [Domestic: UK; Chapter “Judicial Appointments” overall on the system generally—see pp. 140–55 for appointments at the Supreme Court, ECtHR, and CJEU; other chapters are about the judicial system more broadly, with short references to the Supreme Court when relevant.]
Tariq, Imtashal, and Paul M. Collins Jr. “The Nomination and Confirmation of US Supreme Court Justices.” In Research Handbook on Judicial Politics, edited by Michael P. Fix and Matthew D. Montgomery. (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024). There is a lot out there on the selection of US Supreme Court justices. I chose this particular chapter because of its recency. [Domestic: US.]
Nelson, Michael J., and Michael Burnham. “Judicial Elections and Judicial Behaviour.” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour, edited by Lee Epstein, Gunnar Grendstad, Urška Šadl, and Keren Weinshall. (Oxford University Press, 2024). [Domestic: US, but some references to other locales that use judicial elections.]
McCormick, Peter. “Selecting the Supremes: The Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of Canada.” Journal of Appellate Practice and Process 7, no. 1 (2005): 1–42. [Domestic: Canada, but see the 2016-era developments in the diversity selection infra.]
Nikitin, Sergey. “Appointment of Judges and Legal Responsibility of Judges: Guarantees of Independence in Russia.” In The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace, edited by Shimon Shetreet. (Brill, 2014). [Domestic: Russia; also has a section on disciplinary structure.]
Danuser, Gian Andrea. “Challenging the Traditional System of Appointment of Judges to the Federal Supreme Court in Switzerland Confirmed.” In Judicial Independence: Cornerstone of Democracy, edited by Shimon Shetreet and Hiram Chodosh. (Brill, 2024.) [Domestic: Switzerland.]
Kinkel, Jonathan J. “High-End Demand: The Legal Profession as a Source of Judicial Selection Reform in Urban China.” Law & Social Inquiry 40 (2018): 969–1000. [Domestic: China.]
Tiede, Lydia. Judicial Vetoes: Decision-making on Mixed Selection Constitutional Courts. (Cambridge University Press, 2022). [Domestic - comparative: on mixed selection; Chapter 3 - Mixed Judicial Selection: Prevalence and Variation; see also Chapters 4 and 5, which focus on Chile and Colombia and have sections on how judges are selected.]
Ii, Takayuki. “Japan’s Judicial System May Change, but Its Fundamental Nature Stays Virtually the Same? Recent Japanese Reforms on the Judicial Appointment and Evaluation.” Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 36 (2013): 459–74. [Domestic: Japan; also includes reappointment.]
Guarnieri, Carlo, and Patrizia Pederzoli. The Power of Judges: A Comparative Study of Courts and Democracy. (Oxford University Press, 2002). [Domestic – comparative: US, UK, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain; Chapter 1, pp.18–77, on how the selection and role of judges is inherently political; covers court systems generally, not specific to apex courts.]
Di Federico, Giuseppe, ed. Recruitment, Professional Evaluation and Career of Judges and Prosecutors in Europe: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain. (Istituto di Ricerca Sui Sistemi Giudiziari, 2005). [Domestic; comparative: mostly on training and selection; also includes sections on disciplinary systems, gender; focuses on all courts, not specific to apex courts.]
B. Selection of Chief Judge
Rosenne, Shabtai. Essays on International Law and Practice. (Brill, 2007). [International - ICJ: Chapter 2 - The President of the International Court of Justice.]
Vrancken, Patrick H.P. “Article 12: President, Vice-President and Registrar.” In United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: A Commentary, edited by Alexander Proelss. (Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2017). [International: ITLOS.]
Blisa, Adam, and David Kosař. “Court Presidents: The Missing Piece in the Puzzle of Judicial Governance.” German Law Journal 19 (2018): 2031–76. [Domestic – comparative: Europe.]
Quint, Peter E. “Leading a Constitutional Court: Perspectives from the Federal Republic of Germany.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 154 (2006): 1853–78. [Domestic – comparative: Germany (main focus) and the US.]
Nemacheck, Christine L. “Selecting the Chief: Presidential Calculation in Appointing Chief Justices.” In The Chief Justice: Appointment and Influence, edited by Artemus Ward and David J. Danelski. (University of Michigan Press, 2016). [Domestic: US; subsequent chapter beginning on p. 120 covers the confirmation process.]
Wilhelm, Teena, Richard L. Vining Jr., and David Hughes. “Chief Justice Selection Rules and Judicial Ideology.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 23 (2023): 267–82. [Domestic: US; state supreme courts.]
Wilhelm, Teena, Richard L. Vining Jr., David Hughes, and Aidan González. “Diversity in Judicial Leadership in the American States.” Polity 56 (2024): 408–33. [Domestic: US; state supreme courts.]
Rivera León, Mauro Arturo. “Undermining Judicial Independence: Chief Justices and Political Alignment in Mexico’s Judicial Politics.” In Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies, edited by Nauman Reayat, Rhona K.M. Smith, and Moohyung Cho. (Routledge, 2024). [Domestic: Mexico; selection, powers, and politicization of the role.]
C. Ad hoc Judges
von Bahten, G.L. “The Role of Judges ad hoc on International Permanent Courts: A Critical Analysis.” Ars Boni et Aequi 8 (2012): 25–80. [International – comparative: PCIJ, ICJ, ITLOS, IACtHR, ECtHR.]
Rosenne, Shabtai. Essays on International Law and Practice. (Brill, 2007). [International - ICJ; Chapter 7 - Article 31 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice Revisited: The Judge ad hoc.]
Scobbie, Iain. “Une hérésie en matière judicière? The Role of the Judge Ad Hoc in the International Court.” The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 4, no. 3 (2005): 421–64. [International - ICJ.]
Schwebel, Stephen M. “National Judges and Judges Ad Hoc of the International Court of Justice.” International & Comparative Law Quarterly 48 (1999): 889–900. [International - ICJ: written by an ICJ judge.]
Jiménez de Aréchaga, Eduardo. “Judges ad hoc in Advisory Proceedings.” Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 31 (1971): 697–711. [International - ICJ: written by an ICJ judge.]
De Herdt, Sandrine. “Judges ad hoc and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: An Overview of its Practice.” Journal of International Dispute Settlement 11, no. 3 (2020): 438–58. [International: ITLOS.]
Jesus, José Luis. “Judges ad hoc in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.” In Coexistence, Cooperation and Solidarity: Liber Amicorum Rüdiger Wolfrum, edited by Holger P. Hestermeyer et al. (Brill, 2012). [International: ITLOS.]
Lambert, Pierre. “Les juges ad hoc à la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme.” Revue trimestrielle des droits de l’homme, 39 (1999): 479–85. [International: ECtHR, deep dive in case coverage.]
D. Diversity
This section first includes materials that review a variety of subcategories. Then it covers materials that refer exclusively or primarily to specific aspects of diversity. There is a significant amount of scholarship on this issue that does not specifically focus on apex courts.
Generally
Baetens, Freya. Identity and Diversity on the International Bench: Who Is the Judge?. (Oxford University Press, 2020). [International – comparative: covers various types of diversity metrics and types of courts, judges, and arbitrators.]
Swigart, Leigh. “The National Judge: Some Reflections on Diversity in International Courts and Tribunals.” McGeorge Law Review 42 (2010): 223–42. [International: ACtHPR, ECtHR, ICJ, ICC; legal traditions, nationality, language diversity, cultural differences, etc.]
Winkler, Matteo M., and Mikaël Schinazi. “Diversity and Inclusiveness in International Arbitration.” In Arbitration Beyond Borders: Essays in Memory of Guillermo Aguilar Álvarez, edited by W. Michael Reisman and Nigel Blackaby. (Kluwer Law International, 2023). [International: commercial and investment.]
Polonskaya, Ksenia. “Diversity in Investor-State Arbitration: Intersectionality Must Be a Part of the Conversation.” Melbourne Journal of International Law 19, no. 1 (2018): 259–98. [International: ICSID.]
Franck, Susan D., James Freda, Kellen Lavin, Tobias Lehmann, and Anne Van Aaken. “The Diversity Challenge: Exploring the Invisible College of International Arbitration.” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 53, no. 3 (2015): 429–506. [International - arbitration.]
Chen, Richard C. “The Substantive Value of Diversity in Investment Treaty Arbitration.” Virginia Journal of International Law 61, no. 3 (2021): 431–88. [International - investment.]
Lindholm, Johan. The Court of Arbitration for Sport and Its Jurisprudence: An Empirical Inquiry into Lex Sportiva. (T.M.C. Asser Press, 2019). [International – arbitration: especially Chapter 9, Characteristics of CAS Arbitrators.]
Hale, Lady, DBE. “Appointments to the Supreme Court.” In Debating Judicial Appointments in an Age of Diversity, edited by Graham Gee and Erika Rackley. (Routledge, 2017). [Domestic; UK, with other chapters occasionally referencing apex courts but not applying specifically to them.]
Barton, Benjamin H., and Emily Moran. “Measuring Diversity on the Supreme Court with Biodiversity Statistics.” Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 10, no. 1 (2013): 1–34. [Domestic: US.]
Da Ros, Luciano. “Judges in the Formation of the Nation-State: Professional Experiences, Academic Background and Geographic Circulation of Members of the Supreme Courts of Brazil and the United States.” Brazilian Political Science Review 4, no. 1 (2010): 102–30. [Domestic - comparative: Brazil and the US; focuses on academic backgrounds, professional experiences, and geographic backgrounds.]
Gender
Grossman, Nienke. “Achieving Sex-Representative International Court Benches.” American Journal of International Law 110, no. 1 (2017): 82–95. [International - comparative.]
Grossman, Nienke. “Sex on the Bench: Do Women Judges Matter to the Legitimacy of International Courts?.” Chicago Journal of International Law 12, no. 2 (2012): 647–84. [International - comparative.]
Grossman, Nienke. “Sex Representation on the Bench: Legitimacy and International Criminal Courts.” International Criminal Law Review 11, no. 3 (2011): 643–53. [International - ICC.]
Chappell, Louise. The Politics of Gender Justice at the International Criminal Court: Legacies and Legitimacy. (Oxford University Press, 2015). [International - ICC.]
Vauchez, Stéphanie Hennette. “More Women, but Which Women? The Rule and the Politics of Gender Balance at the European Court of Human Rights.” European Journal of International Law 26, no. 1 (2015): 195–221. [International: ECtHR.]
Kenney, Sally J. “Breaking the Silence: Gender Mainstreaming and the Composition of the European Court of Justice.” Feminist Legal Studies 10, no. 3 (2002): 257–70. [International: CJEU.]
Gill, Rebecca D., and Christian Jensen. “Where Are the Women? Legal Traditions and Descriptive Representation on the European Court of Justice.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 8, no. 1 (2018): 122–42. [International: CJEU.]
Polomarkakis, Konstantinos Alexandris. “United in Diversity? Gender and Judging at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).” Connecticut Journal of International Law 34, no. 3 (2019): 336–61. [International: CJEU.]
Dawuni, J. Jarpa. “Vive la Diversite or Aluta Continua? Achieving Gender Equity on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.” Connecticut Journal of International Law 34, no. 3 (2019): 376–97. [International: ACtHPR.]
Foley, Jessica. “Chapter 2: Opening Our Eyes to Stereotypes: An Argument Against Gender-Blind Arbitral Appointments.” In International Arbitration in England: Perspectives in Times of Change, edited by Gregory Roy Fullelove, Laila Hamzi, and Daniel Harrison. (Kluwer Law International, 2022). [International - arbitration.]
Escobar-Lemmon, Maria C., Valerie J. Hoekstra, Alice J. Kang, and Miki Caul Kittilson. Reimagining the Judiciary: Women’s Representation on High Courts Worldwide. (Oxford University Press, 2021). [Domestic – comparative: focus on Canada, Colombia, Ireland, South Africa, and the US.]
Escobar-Lemmon, Maria C., Valerie J. Hoekstra, Alice J. Kang, and Miki Caul Kittilson. “Appointing Women to High Courts.” In Research Handbook on Law and Courts, edited by Susan M. Sterett and Lee D. Walker. (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019). [Domestic - comparative.] This book chapter is by the same authors as the above-listed book; it might be considered a more digestible summary of that book.
Arrington, Nancy, Leeann Bass, Adam Glynn, Jeffrey K. Staton, Brian Delgado, and Staffan I. Lindberg. “Constitutional Reform and the Gender Diversification of Peak Courts.” American Political Science Review 115, no. 3 (2021): 851–68. [Domestic – comparative: empirical focus on the relationship between institutional structures and increased gender diversity.]
Valdini, Melody E., and Christopher Shortell. “Women’s Representation in the Highest Court: A Comparative Analysis of the Appointment of Female Justices.” Political Research Quarterly 69, no. 4 (2016): 865–76. [Domestic - comparative; similar empirical approach with a focus on constitutional courts.]
Hoekstra, Valerie. “Increasing the Gender Diversity of High Courts: A Comparative View.” Politics & Gender 69, no. 4 (2010): 474–84. [Domestic - comparative: focuses on gender quotas.]
Serrano, Santiago Basabe. “The Representation of Women in the Judicial Branch: Eighteen Latin American High Courts in Comparative Perspective.” Revista de Estudios Políticos no. 185 (2019): 259–86. [Domestic - comparative.]
Basabe-Serrano, Santiago. “¿En qué medida la independencia judicial incide sobre la presencia de mujeres en altas cortes de justicia? América Latina en perspectiva comparada.” Política y gobierno 27, no. 1 (2020). [Domestic - comparative.]
Dawuni, Josephine J., and Alice J. Kang. “Her Ladyship Chief Justice: The Rise of Female Leaders in the Judiciary in Africa.” Africa Today 62, no. 2 (2015): 45–69. [Domestic – comparative: Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone (common law), and Benin, Niger, and Rwanda (civil law).]
Dawuni, J. Jarpa, and Tabeth Masengu. “Judicial Service Commissions and the Appointment of Women to Higher Courts in Nigeria and Zambia.” In Research Handbook on Law and Courts, edited by Susan M. Sterett and Lee D. Walker. (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019). [Domestic - comparative: on how the appointment process is related to gender diversity in African courts, with specific attention given to Nigeria and Zambia.]
Goldar, Monica Garcia. “The Glass Ceiling at the Highest Levels of the Spanish Judiciary.” International Journal of the Legal Profession 27, no. 2 (2020): 189–202. [Domestic: Spain.]
Wilson, Bertha. “Will Women Judges Really Make a Difference?.” Osgoode Hall Law Journal 28, no. 3 (1990): 507–22. [Domestic: some comparisons, Canada and the US, mostly exploring the idea across courts, not just the apex.] The topic came up so frequently in the research that I included this piece. The author is a famous Canadian jurist. As with other aspects of diversity, there is a lot of literature out there that discusses gender and the judiciary more generally, not specific to apex courts. For that broader discussion, I would recommend anything written by Sally J. Kenney and/or the following book: Schultz, Ulrike, and Gisela Shaw, eds. Gender and Judging. (Hart Publishing, 2013).
Race/Ethnicity
Solanke, Iyiola. “Independence and Diversity in the European Court of Justice.” Columbia Journal of European Law 15, no. 1 (2009): 89–121. [International: CJEU, Part IV, p. 111 et seq. on racial and ethnic diversity of judges, other parts on advocates general.]
Solanke, Iyiola. “Where Are the Black Judges in Europe?.” Connecticut Journal of International Law 34, no. 3 (2019): 287–316. [International: CJEU.]
Hamzi, Laila. “Chapter 3: Ethnic Diversity in Arbitration: Bridging the Gap in England and Beyond.” In International Arbitration in England: Perspectives in Times of Change, edited by Gregory Roy Fullelove, Laila Hamzi, and Daniel Harrison. (Kluwer Law International, 2022). [International - commercial.]
Green, Michael Z. “Arbitrarily Selecting Black Arbitrators.” Fordham Law Review 88, no. 6 (2020): 2255–86. [Domestic: mostly talks about the AAA and JAMS, which are based in the US.]
Professional Backgrounds
Jäckle, Sebastian. “Pathways to Karlsruhe: A Sequence Analysis of the Careers of German Federal Constitutional Court Judges.” German Politics 25, no. 1 (2016): 25–53. [Domestic: Germany.]
Epstein, Lee, Jack Knight, and Andrew D. Martin. “The Norm of Prior Judicial Experience and Its Consequences for Career Diversity on the U.S. Supreme Court.” California Law Review 91, no. 4 (2003): 903–65. [Domestic: US.]
Geographic - This topic appears as a small part in many other articles.
Chandrachud, Abhinav. “Diversity and the International Criminal Court: Does Geographic Background Impact Decision Making?.” Brooklyn Journal of International Law 38, no. 2 (2013): 487–521. [International: ICC.]
Canada—An Interesting Case Study
I separate this out because there are some interesting aspects here. A Canadian law requires three of the Supreme Court judges to be from Quebec; a 2016 reform on appointments to the Supreme Court says that other forms of diversity should be considered, such as Indigenous representation, bilingualism, and other geographic areas. It is a microcosm of these diversity questions, and there are many more sources on this topic if you want to take a deep dive.
Nasager, Alexandrea. “The Supreme Court, Functional Bilingualism, and the Indigenous Candidate: Reconciling the Bench.” Alberta Law Review 57, no. 3 (2020): 797–816. [Domestic: Canada.]
Schertzer, Robert. “Quebec Justices as Quebec Representatives: National Minority Representation and the Supreme Court of Canada’s Federalism Jurisprudence.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 46, no. 4 (2016): 539–67. [Domestic: Canada; regional diversity - requirement for the number of Supreme Court judges from Quebec.]
MacKay, A. Wayne. “The False Dichotomy between Regional Representation and Other Forms of Diversity: Reimagining a Representative Court.” University of New Brunswick Law Journal 68 (2017): 46–53. [Domestic: Canada.]
E. Reappointment
Tatham, Allan F. “Reappointment to International Courts and the Case of the EFTA Court.” The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 20, no. 1 (2021): 119–49. [International – comparative: EFTA main focus; references to various other bodies, including the CJEU, ICJ, SADC, etc.]
Stiansen, Øyvind. “(Non)renewable Terms and Judicial Independence in the European Court of Human Rights.” Journal of Politics 84, no. 2 (2022): 992–1006. [International: ECtHR; compares outcomes from when the Court had renewable terms (pre-2010).]
Hermansen, Silje Synnøve Lyder, and Daniel Naurin. “Shaping the Bench: The Effect of Ideology and Performance on Judicial Reappointments.” ASPSA Preprints, December 2024. [International: CJEU; preprint, not yet peer reviewed.]
de Vietri, Raphaël, and Kanaga Dharmananda. “Impartiality and the Issue of Repeat Arbitrators — A Reply to Slaoui.” Journal of International Arbitration 28, no. 3 (2011): 187–200. [International: commercial arbitration.]
Shepherd, Joanna M. “Are Appointed Judges Strategic Too?.” Duke Law Journal 58, no. 7 (2009): 1589–626. [Domestic: US states.]
Terms of Service
A. Tenure/Length of Mandate
Pérez-Liñán, Aníbal, and Andrea Castagnola. “Judicial Tenure and Retirements.” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour, edited by Lee Epstein, Gunnar Grendstad, Urška Šadl, and Keren Weinshall. (Oxford University Press, 2024). [Domestic - comparative: covers both tenure and retirement.]
Calabresi, Steven G., and James Lindgren. “Term Limits for the Supreme Court: Life Tenure Reconsidered.” Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 29, no. 3 (2006): 769–878. [Domestic: US.]
Du Bois, Francois. “Tenure on the Constitutional Court.” South African Law Journal 119, no. 1 (2002): 1–16. [Domestic: South Africa.]
B. Remuneration/Salary Structures
Gaukrodger, David. “Adjudicator Compensation Systems and Investor-State Dispute Settlement.” OECD Working Papers on International Investment, November 24, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1787/c2890bd5-en. [Domestic - international - comparative; history of structures primarily in the US and UK, with references to other States; short section on outside pecuniary interests in the UK and the US - Annex 2, “There is no systematic disclosure of information about cases or costs associated with ISDS. No aggregate information can be collected.”]
Beloff, Michael J. “Paying Judges: Why, Who, Whom, How Much - Neill Lecture 2006.” Denning Law Journal 18 (2006): 1–36. [Domestic – comparative: on the judiciary generally; on the English history of paying judges; extensive footnote references to laws in many States prohibiting decreases in judicial salaries.]
One interesting aspect of this is the idea that an underfunded judiciary (along with other poor working conditions) is prone to corruption:
Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee on the Central African Republic, UN Doc. CCPR/C/CAF/CO/2, para. 16. https://docs.un.org/en/CCPR/C/CAF/CO/2.
Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee on Kosovo (Serbia), UN Doc. CCPR/C/NK/CO/1, para. 20. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR%2FC%2FUNK%2FCO%2F1&Lang=en.
Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee on Tajikistan, UN Doc. CCPR/CO/84/TJK, para. 17. https://www.refworld.org/policy/polrec/hrc/2005/en/13292.
In the US, there are similar arguments. For example, see the following article, starting at p. 1292: Anderson, James M., and Eric Helland. “How Much Should Judges Be Paid? An Empirical Study on the Effect of Judicial Pay on the State Bench.” Stanford Law Review 64 (2012): 1277–342; but see Gulati, Mitu, Stephen Choi, and G. Mitu Gulati. “Are Judges Overpaid?: A Skeptical Response to the Judicial Salary Debate.” Journal of Legal Analysis 1, no. 1 (2009): 47–117 (finding that without improving judicial accountability mechanisms, there is no connection between “better” judging and compensation).
C. External Work
See also the materials under ‘Codes of Conduct’ below, especially for international courts. Much of this is generally applicable to court systems.
Generally
Ivanova, Elena. “Independence and impartiality through the lens of incompatible activities, disqualification and challenge: the ICJ, ITLOS, and inter-State arbitration.” Journal of International Dispute Settlement 15, no. 2 (2024): 305–50. [International: ICJ, ITLOS.]
Shetreet, Shimon. “Standards of Conduct of International Judges: Outside Activities.” The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 2, no. 1 (2003): 127–62. [Comparative: international and domestic courts, wide variety of outside activities; for domestic overviews, not specific to high courts.]
Bell, Peter Alan. “Extrajudicial Activity of Supreme Court Justices.” Stanford Law Review 22, no. 3 (1970): 587–617. [Domestic: US.]
Schmidt, Christopher W. “Beyond the Opinion: Supreme Court Justices and Extrajudicial Speech.” Chicago-Kent Law Review 88, no. 2 (2013): 487–528. [Domestic: US; long introduction on Justice Black, getting to the point at p. 491.]
As Arbitrators
Mulcahy, Carol. “The Rise of the Judge-Arbitrator: Fact or Fiction?.” Arbitration: The International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management 85, no. 4 (2019): 346–59. [Domestic: UK, High Court only.]
Bosman, Lise, ed. ICCA International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration. (Kluwer Law International, 2021). [Domestic – comparative: has national reports that indicate if a judge may also sit as an arbitrator.]
Academic Activity
Bartie, Susan, and John Gava. “Some Problems with Extrajudicial Writing.” Sydney Law Review 34, no. 4 (2012): 637–58. [Domestic – comparative: UK and Australia.]
Zoll, Fryderyk. “On Judges Writing Commentaries: Is It Appropriate for a Judge to Engage in Outside Activities?.” In The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace, edited by Shimon Shetreet. (Brill, 2014). [Domestic: Poland.]
Kurylo, Volodymyr, Iryna Hrynyk, and Olena Mitina. “The Conflict of Interests and Teaching Activity of a Judge.” Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues 24, no. S1 (2021): 1–12. [Domestic: Ukraine.]
Social Media Activity
Jahn, Jannika. “Social Media Communication by Judges: Assessing Guidelines and New Challenges for Free Speech and Judicial Duties in the Light of the Convention.” In The Rule of Law in Europe, edited by María Elósegui, Alina Miron, and Iulia Motoc. (Springer, 2021). [International: ECtHR application to new domestic judicial rules.]
Al-Billeh, T. “Disciplinary Measures Consequent on the Judges’ Misuse of Social Media in Jordanian and French Legislation: A Difficult Balance between Freedom of Expression and Restrictions on Judicial Ethics.” Kutafin Law Review 10, no. 3 (2023): 681–719. [Domestic - comparative: Jordan, France.]
D. Politicization/Activism
Generally
Dijkstra, Sietske. “The Freedom of the Judge to Express His Personal Opinions and Convictions under the ECHR.” Utrecht Law Review 13, no. 1 (2017): 1–17. [International: ECtHR.]
Frost, Amanda. “Judicial Ethics and Supreme Court Exceptionalism.” Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 26, no. 3 (2013): 443–79. [Domestic: US.]
On Political Preferences/Activities
Epstein, Lee, Andrew D. Martin, and Kevin Quinn. “Measuring Political Preferences.” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour, edited by Lee Epstein, Gunnar Grendstad, Urška Šadl, and Keren Weinshall. (Oxford University Press, 2024). [Domestic - comparative; examines whether political preferences impact judges’ decisions and how to measure this.]
Brace, Paul, Melinda Gann Hall, and Laura Langer. “Measuring the Preferences of State Supreme Court Judges.” Journal of Politics 62, no. 2 (2000): 387–413. [Domestic: US; same idea as the above-listed article but specific to US state supreme courts.]
Rehder, Britta. “What Is Political about Jurisprudence? Courts, Politics and Political Science in Europe and the United States.” MPIfG Discussion Paper 07/5, 2007. https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_1233108_7/component/file_1233106/content. [Domestic: comparing the vast amount of scholarship on all aspects of judicial politics in the US to the relatively limited interest shown in European scholarship.]
I thought there would be more on US judges’ political affiliations (given the current US news), but most of what is recently appearing in the literature is student notes. For example, see the following:
Almodovar Tirado, Jean P. “Regulating the Court That Regulates Everything, Except Itself: An Analysis of the United States Supreme Court’s Code of Ethics and Recommendations on How to Enforce It.” Student Comment. Revista Jurídica Universidad de Puerto Rico 93, no. 3 (2024): 467–90.
Boyd, Lauren Chambliss. “Codes of Conduct and Spousal Autonomy.” Student Note. Alabama Law Review 75, no. 3 (2024): 819–40.
Parisek, Marissa. “Judicial Ethics: The Rise of Politics and Misconduct in the Supreme Court.” Student Note. Journal of the Legal Profession 48, no. 2 (2024): 217–32.
Activism of the Court as a whole includes the expansion into the US-style concept of judicial review. I think this is more about judicial independence broadly than the independence of individual judges, so there are only a few introductory pieces noted here:
Kooijmans, Pieter. “The ICJ in the 21st Century: Judicial Restraint, Judicial Activism, or Proactive Judicial Policy.” International & Comparative Law Quarterly 56, no. 4 (2007): 741–54. [International: ICJ.]
Bjorklund, A.K. “Are Arbitrators (Judicial) Activists?.” The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 17, no. 1 (2018): 49–60. [International investment arbitration.]
Dickson, Brice, ed. Judicial Activism in Common Law Supreme Courts. (Oxford University Press, 2007). [Domestic – comparative: Commonwealth States.]
Holland, Kenneth M., ed. Judicial Activism in Comparative Perspective. (St. Martin’s Press, 1991). [Domestic - comparative: Chapters on the US, England, Canada, Australia, Israel, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, Japan, and the Soviet Union; concerned with how “widespread” judicial activism is; see the introduction at p. 1.]
Möllers, Christoph. “Scope and Legitimacy of Judicial Review in German Constitutional Law.” In Debates in German Public Law, edited by Hermann Pünder and Christian Waldhoff. (Hart Publishing, 2014). [Domestic: Germany.]
Stone, Alec. The Birth of Judicial Politics in France: The Constitutional Council in Comparative Perspective. (Oxford University Press, 1992). [Domestic: France; some European/US comparisons.]
Cepeda-Espinosa, Manuel Jose. “Judicial Activism in a Violent Context: The Origin, Role, and Impact of the Colombian Constitutional Court.” Washington University Global Studies Law Review 3 (2004): 529–700. [Domestic: Colombia; author was on the bench of the Constitutional Court at the time of writing.]
Pereira, Gabriel. “Judges as Equilibrists: Explaining Judicial Activism in Latin America.” International Journal of Constitutional Law 20, no. 2 (2022): 696–732. [Domestic: Argentina.]
On Political Questions in Courts
Cooray, Anton. “Entering the Political Thicket: The Role of the Judiciary as an Arbiter in Relation to Making and Implementation of Public Policy.” In The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace, edited by Shimon Shetreet. (Brill, 2014). [Domestic – comparative: UK, Hong Kong, a little about the US.]
E. Law Clerks
Sanders, Anne. “Law Clerks.” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour, edited by Lee Epstein, Gunnar Grendstad, Urška Šadl, and Keren Weinshall. (Oxford University Press, 2024). [Domestic - comparative: some references to international courts.]
Cohen, Mathilde. “Judges or Hostages? Sitting at the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.” In EU Law Stories: Contextual and Critical Histories of European Jurisprudence, edited by Fernanda Nicola and Bill Davies. (Cambridge University Press, 2017), 58–80. [International – comparative: ECtHR and CJEU staff more broadly, including clerks.]
Zhang, Angela Huyue. “The Faceless Court.” University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 38, no. 1 (2016): 71–135. [International: CJEU.]
Kenney, Sally J. “Beyond Principals and Agents: Seeing Courts As Organizations By Comparing Référendaires at the European Court of Justice and Law Clerks at the U.S. Supreme Court.” Comparative Political Studies 33, no. 5 (2000): 593–625. [International - domestic - comparative: CJEU and US.]
Sanders, Anne. “Judicial Assistants in Europe - A Comparative Analysis.” International Journal of Court Administration 11, no. 3 (2020): 1–18. [Domestic – comparative: Europe.]
Holvast, Nina. “The Power of the Judicial Assistant/Law Clerk: Looking behind the Scenes at Courts in the United States, England and Wales, and the Netherlands.” International Journal of Court Administration 7, no. 2 (2016): 10–28. [Domestic - comparative: US, England, the Netherlands.]
Massing, Otwin. “Legal Assistants at the German Federal Constitutional Court.” In Constitutional Courts in Comparison: The US Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court, edited by Ralf Rogowski and Thomas Gawron. (Springer, 2016). [Domestic: Germany; comes from a comparative book, see pp.165–79 on US Supreme Court clerks.]
Nesterchuk, Tetyana. “The View from Behind the Bench: The Role of Judicial Assistants in the UK Supreme Court.” In Judge and Jurist: Essays in Memory of Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, edited by Andrew Burrows, David Johnston, and Reinhard Zimmermann. (Oxford University Press, 2013). [Domestic: UK.]
Grendstad, Gunnar, William R. Shaffer, Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde, and Eric N. Waltenburg. Proactive and Powerful: Law Clerks and the Institutionalization of the Norwegian Supreme Court. (Boom Uitgevers Den Haag, 2011). [Domestic: Norway.]
Peppers, Todd C. Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court Law Clerk. (Stanford University Press, 2006). [Domestic: US.]
Sossin, Lorne. “The Sounds of Silence: Law Clerks, Policy Making and the Supreme Court of Canada.” University of British Columbia Law Review 30, no. 2 (1996): 279–308. [Domestic: Canada.]
Arévalo, Erika Bárcena. “La reproducción judicial y la cultura jurídica. El sistema de nombramiento de personal en la Suprema Corte Mexicana” [“Judicial reproduction and legal culture: The hiring system of the clerks in the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice.”] Oñati Socio-Legal Series 8, no. 5 (2018): 739–59. [Domestic: Mexico.]
F. Retirement and Age-Related Topics
See also several of the articles under ‘Tenure/Length of Mandate’ above.
Political Implications of Retirements
Llanos, Mariana, Karolina M. Gilas, and Leiv Marsteintredet. “Ousted from the Bench?: Judicial Departures in Consolidating Democracies.” Working Paper No. 300, German Institute of Global & Area Studies, April 2017. [Domestic – comparative: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Benin, Madagascar, and Senegal.]
Gyulavári, Tamás, and Nikolett Hős. “Retirement of Hungarian Judges, Age Discrimination and Judicial Independence: A Tale of Two Courts.” Industrial Law Journal 42, no. 3 (2013): 289–97. [Domestic: Hungary, mandatory retirement for constitutional court judges.]
Vincze, Attila. “Dismissal of the President of the Hungarian Supreme Court: ECtHR Judgment Baka v. Hungary.” European Public Law 21, no. 3 (2015): 445–56. [International: ECtHR; Domestic: Hungary.]
Massie, Tajuana, Kate Malleson, and Joanna Baron. “The Politics of Judicial Retirement in Canada and the United Kingdom.” Journal of Law and Courts 2, no. 2 (2014): 273–99. [Domestic – comparative: Canada and the UK.]
Ward, Artemus. Deciding to Leave: The Politics of Retirement from the United States Supreme Court. (State University of New York Press, 2003). [Domestic: US; organized chronologically, use the introductory chapter for an overview.]
Hall, Melinda Gann. “Voluntary Retirements from the State Supreme Courts: Assessing Democratic Pressures to Relinquish the Bench.” Journal of Politics 63, no. 4 (2001): 1112–40. [Domestic: US state supreme courts.]
Goodman, Chris Chambers. “Clearing the Bench: Using Mandatory Retirement to Promote Gender Parity in the U.S. and the EU Judiciaries.” Tulane Law Review 95, no. 1 (2020): 1–50. [International - domestic – comparative: CJEU and the US; not specific to apex courts but still an interesting application.]
Age Limits
Opeskin, Brian. “Models of Judicial Tenure: Reconsidering Life Limits, Age Limits and Term Limits for Judges.” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 35, no. 4 (2015): 627–63. [Domestic – comparative: US, Australia, South Africa.]
Garrow, David J. “Mental Decrepitude on the U.S. Supreme Court: The Historical Case for a 28th Amendment.” University of Chicago Law Review 67, no. 4 (2000): 995–1088. [Domestic: US.]
Teitelbaum, Joshua C. “Age and Tenure of the Justices and Productivity of the U.S. Supreme Court: Are Term Limits Necessary?.” Florida State University Law Review 34, no. 1 (2006): 161–81. [Domestic: US.]
Smyth, Russel, and Mita Bhattacharya. “How Fast Do Old Judges Slow Down? A Life Cycle Study of Aging and Productivity in the Federal Court of Australia.” International Review of Law and Economics 23, no. 2 (2003): 141–64. [Domestic: Australia.]
Senior status/subsequent judicial service
Myers, Minor, III. “The Judicial Service of Retired United States Supreme Court Justices.” Journal of Supreme Court History 32, no. 1 (2007): 46–61. [Domestic: US.]
Discipline and Removal
Note that much of this scholarship is on the judiciary more broadly.
A. Generally
Devlin, Richard, and Sheila Wildeman, eds. Disciplining Judges: Contemporary Challenges and Controversies. (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021) [Domestic – comparative: thirteen chapters covering different jurisdictions and models.]
Kosař, David, and Katarína Šipulová. “Politics of Judicial Governance.” In Research Handbook on the Politics of Constitutional Law, edited by Mark Tushnet and Dimitry Kochenov. (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023). [Domestic - comparative.]
Turenne, Sophie. “Judicial Independence and Judicial Accountability: Two Sides of the Same Coin.” In The Culture of Judicial Independence in a Globalised World, edited by Shimon Shetreet and Wayne McCormack. (Brill, 2016.) [Domestic: UK.]
Cappelletti, Mauro. The Judicial Process in Comparative Perspective. (Clarendon Press, 1989). [Domestic - comparative: Chapter 2 - Who Watches the Watchmen?; very good footnotes for a more historical exploration of the topic.]
Pashuk, Taras. “Disciplinary Liability of a Judge for a Legal Error: A Threat to Judicial Independence?.” In Judicial Power in a Globalized World, edited by Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque and Krzysztof Wojtyczek, 345–57. (Springer, 2019) [Domestic – comparative: France and the US.]
B. Standards/Codes of Conduct/Ethical Codes
Seibert-Fohr, Anja. “International Judicial Ethics.” In The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication, edited by Cesare P.R. Romano, Karen J. Alter, and Yuval Shany. (Oxford University Press, 2013). [International - comparative.]
Mahoney, Paul. “The International Judiciary - Independence and Accountability.” The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 7, no. 3 (2008): 313–49. [International - comparative.]
Turenne, Sophie. “European Standards of Judicial Independence – Lessons from the Court of Justice of the European Union.” In Judicial Independence: Cornerstone of Democracy, edited by Shimon Shetreet and Hiram Chodosh. (Brill, 2024). [International: CJEU.]
Shetreet, Shimon. “The Impact of International Law on Judicial Independence in Domestic Law: The Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.” In The Culture of Judicial Independence in a Globalised World, edited by Shimon Shetreet and Wayne McCormack. (Brill, 2016). [International – domestic – comparative: European; reviews standards/decisions challenging judicial independence.]
Gómez, Katia Fach. Key Duties of International Investment Arbitrators: A Transnational Study of Legal and Ethical Dilemmas. (Springer, 2018). [International arbitration: Chapter 3 - The Duty of Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest in Investment Arbitration Disputes.]
Di Federico, Giuseppe. “Judicial Accountability and Conduct: An Overview.” In Judicial Independence in Transition, edited by Anja Seibert-Fohr. (Springer, 2012). [Domestic - comparative: overviews of various codes and their evolutions; does not specify whether the codes mentioned apply to the judicial system generally or to apex courts.]
Shetreet, Shimon. “Towards a Global Code of Judicial Ethics.” In The Culture of Judicial Independence in a Globalised World, edited by Shimon Shetreet and Wayne McCormack. (Brill, 2016). [Domestic - comparative: broad historical overview.]
Shetreet, Shimon. “Amendments to the Mt. Scopus Standards (Moscow Conference, Osnabrück Conference and Bologna and Milan Conference).” In The Culture of Judicial Independence in a Globalised World, edited by Shimon Shetreet and Wayne McCormack. (Brill, 2016). [generalized guidance standards.]
Schmidt, Thorsten Ingo. “The Code of Conduct for the Justices of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.” In Challenged Justice: In Pursuit of Judicial Independence, edited by Shimon Shetreet, Hiram Chodosh, and Eric Helland. (Brill, 2021). [Domestic: Germany.]
Olbourne, Ben. “Independence and Impartiality: International Standards for National Judges and Courts.” The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 2, no. 1 (2003): 97–126. [Guidance for domestic systems.] This entire issue is from a judicial independence symposium, and a few of the articles are scattered throughout.
Pomerance, Benjamin. “A Code Too Easily Broken: Continuing Concerns regarding the United States Supreme Court’s New Code of Conduct.” Albany Law Review 87, no. 1 (2023): 229–84. [Domestic: US.]
See also the following list of international standards, including references to relevant treaty provisions:
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. “International Standards.” Accessed April 30, 2025. https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-independence-of-judges-and-lawyers/international-standards.
C. Disciplinary Chambers/Judicial Council
Garoupa, Nuno, and Tom Ginsburg. “Guarding the Guardians: Judicial Councils and Judicial Independence.” American Journal of Comparative Law 57, no. 1 (2009): 103–34. [Domestic - comparative.]
Aquilina, Kevin. “The Independence of the Judiciary in Strasbourg Judicial Disciplinary Case Law: Judges as Applicants and National Judicial Councils as Factotums of Respondent States.” In Judicial Power in a Globalized World, edited by Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque and Krzysztof Wojtyczek. (Springer, 2019). [International: ECtHR, how it interacts with State judicial councils.]
Albers, Pim, and Wim J.M. Voermans. “Councils for the Judiciary in EU Countries.” Council of Europe, European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), 2003. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1271182. [Domestic – comparative: Europe; pp.14–17 for overview; the rest of the report contains country profiles and details on extensive interviews.]
“Judicial Self-Government in Europe.” Special issue, German Law Journal 19, no. 7 (2018). [International – domestic – comparative: twelve country-focused articles, plus treatment of the CJEU and ECtHR; overview articles on selection, recruitment, etc.]
Bobek, Michal, and David Kosař. “Global Solutions, Local Damages: A Critical Study in Judicial Councils in Central and Eastern Europe.” German Law Journal 15, no. 7 (2014): 1257–92. [Domestic - comparative: Central and Eastern Europe; criticizes the expansion of European-style judicial councils.]
Gajda-Roszczynialska, Katarzyna, and Krystian Markiewicz. “Disciplinary Proceedings as an Instrument for Breaking the Rule of Law in Poland.” Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 12, no. 3 (2020): 451–83. [Domestic: Poland.]
Hammergren, Linn. “Do Judicial Councils Further Judicial Reform? Lessons from Latin America.” Working Paper, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, June 2002. https://www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/6543. [Domestic - comparative: Latin America.]
Adalid, Mario Melgar. “La doble presidencia de la Suprema Corte de Justicia y del Consejo de la Judicatura Federal, una asignatura pendiente.” In La ciencia del derecho procesal constitucional. Estudios en homenaje a Héctor Fix-Zamudio en sus cincuenta años como investigador del derecho, vol. XI, Justicia, federalismo y derecho constitucional, edited by Arturo Zaldívar Lelo de Larrea and Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor. Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM, 2008. [Domestic: Mexico.]
Leon, Mauro Arturo Rivera. “Directors and Orchestras: A Comparative Analysis of the Institutional Position of the Federal Judicial Council in Mexico.” Boletín Mexicano de Derecho Comparado [online] 53, no. 159 (2020): 1139–79. [Domestic: Mexico; some European comparisons.]
D. Bias
These titles serve as building blocks for discussions of impartiality and recusal that are well-suited for a comparative exercise. There are also articles under the ‘Recusal’ topic that include discussions of bias, but the materials here are more about the idea’s fundamentals.
Magnier, Véronique. “La Notion de Justice Impartiale.” La Semaine Juridique - JCP 1.252, no. 36-252 (September 2000). [International - domestic – comparative: looks at ECtHR interpretation and how it has affected the French Cour de Cassation, comparing it with Anglo-American ideas; cited in other French articles as the best article on bias.]
Allars, Margaret. “Disqualification for Bias and International Tribunals: Room for a Common Test.” Missouri Law Review 78, no. 2 (2013): 379–412. [International: ECtHR; evaluates case law of ECHR Art. 6 regarding bias.]
Youngs, Raymond. “Cold Neutrality? A Comparison of the Standards of the House of Lords with Those of the German Federal Constitutional Court.” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 20, no. 3 (2000): 391–406. [Domestic - comparative: UK and Germany.]
Hammond, Grant. Judicial Recusal: Principles, Process and Problems. (Hart Publishing, 2009). [Domestic: UK/Commonwealth; some US comparisons; see Chapter 5 - Apparent Bias in the British Commonwealth; references to apex courts and the general system.] This book is also in the ‘Recusal’ section (below) with relevant chapters noted.
E. Recusal
Giorgetti, Chiara, ed. Challenges and Recusals of Judges and Arbitrators in International Courts and Tribunals. (Brill, 2015). [International – comparative: ICJ, ICSID, PCA, ICC, and various other bodies and regions.]
Giorgetti, Chiara. “Between Legitimacy and Control: Challenges and Recusals of Arbitrators and Judges in International Courts and Tribunals.” George Washington International Law Review 49 (2016): 205–58. [International - comparative: same editor as the book listed above - may be a more digestible introduction.]
Mégret, Frédéric. “International Judges and Experts’ Impartiality and the Problem of Past Declarations.” The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 10, no. 1 (2011): 31–66. [International - comparative.]
Brubaker, Joseph R. “The Judge Who Knew Too Much: Issue Conflicts in International Adjudication.” Berkeley Journal of International Law 26, no. 1 (2008): 111–52. [International – comparative: ICJ, special criminal tribunals, WTO, ICC (arbitration), investment arbitration.]
Cristani, Federica. “Challenge and Disqualification of Arbitrators in International Investment Arbitration: An Overview.” The Law & Practice of International Courts & Tribunals 13, no. 2 (2014): 153–77. [International: investment.]
Batifort, Simon, and Chloe Baldwin. “Replacement and Disqualification of Conciliators and Arbitrators.” In The ICSID Convention, Regulations and Rules, edited by Julien Fouret, Rémy Gerbay, and Gloria M. Alvarez. (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019). [International: ICSID.]
Das, Cyrus. “Recusal of Judges: A Commonwealth Survey of the Applicable Tests.” In The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace, edited by Shimon Shetreet. (Brill, 2014). [Domestic – comparative: Commonwealth; includes references to apex and general courts.]
Conrad, Christian. “Ablehnung des Richters: Verfahren und ausgewählte Fallgruppen zur ‘Besorgnis der Befangenheit.’” Monatsschrift für deutsches Recht 69, no. 18 (2015): 1048–50. [Domestic: Germany.]
Bossuyt, Marc. “The Independence of the Judiciary in Belgium.” In The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace, edited by Shimon Shetreet. (Brill, 2014). [Domestic: Belgium.]
Malleson, Kate. “Judicial Bias and Disqualification after Pinochet (No. 2).” Modern Law Review 63, no. 1 (2000): 119–27. [Domestic: UK.]
“Recusal.” Special issue, British Journal of American Legal Studies 4 (Spring 2015). [Domestic – comparative: UK, Australia, New Zealand, US.]
Pines, Zygmont. “Magical Thinking and Appearance-Based Recusal.” British Journal of American Legal Studies 13, no. 1 (2024): 67–146. [Domestic – comparative: US, selected Commonwealth.] This is a long article on the reasonable observer standard in bias recusals, and it has a wealth of footnotes for further review.
Near-Comprehensive, Single-Jurisdiction Sources
Ruiz-Chiriboga, Oswaldo. “The Independence of the Inter-American Judge.” The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 11, no. 1 (2012): 111–35. [International: IACtHR; selection, diversity, terms, disqualification.]
Born, Gary B. International Commercial Arbitration. §§ 12.01–12.06. 3rd ed., updated February 2024. (Kluwer Law International, 2021). [International - arbitration: selection, number, identity, challenges.]
Seibert-Fohr, Anja. “Constitutional Guarantees of Judicial Independence in Germany.” In Recent Trends in German and European Constitutional Law, edited by Eibe Riedel and Rüdiger Wolfrum. (Springer, 2006). [Domestic: Germany; appointment, tenure, financial independence, dismissal, transfer, disciplinary chambers.]
Baldassarre, Antonio. “Structure and Organization of the Constitutional Court of Italy.” Saint Louis University Law Journal 40, no. 3 (1996): 649–58. [Domestic: Italy; short, but written by a Constitutional Court judge at the time; includes a Q & A at the end; Part 2 covers the Court’s establishment and struggles with enforcement regarding the legislative branch; Part 3 covers the Court’s judges.]
van Zyl Smit, J. The Appointment, Tenure and Removal of Judges under Commonwealth Principles: A Compendium and Analysis of Best Practice. Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, 2015. https://www.biicl.org/documents/689_bingham_centre_compendium.pdf. [Domestic – comparative: short overview of laws in Commonwealth countries, each given about equal page attention; appendix is very long and notes the legal provisions for every Commonwealth member; also covers diversity.]
Kawagishi, Norikazu. “Towards a More Responsive Judiciary: Courts and Judicial Power in Japan.” In Asian Courts in Context, edited by Jiunn-rong Yeh and Wen-Chen Chang. (Cambridge University Press, 2015). [Domestic: Japan; see Part III, pp. 90–109, on selection of professional and lay judges; election “reviews” for reappointment; judicial review.]
Siyo, Lunga, and John Cantius Mubangizi. “The Independence of South African Judges: A Constitutional and Legislative Perspective.” Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 18, no. 4 (2015): 816–46. [Domestic: South Africa; bias standards; selection; tenure; disciplinary; remuneration.]
Further Reading
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Oxford Public International Law. https://opil.ouplaw.com/home/mpil:
Oellers-Frahm, Karin. “International Courts and Tribunals, Judges and Arbitrators.” Updated March 2019.
Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law. Oxford Public International Law. https://opil.ouplaw.com/home/mpil:
Seibert-Fohr, Anja. “Codes of Conduct for International Judges.” Updated December 2018.
Brauch, Martin Dietrich. “Remuneration of International Adjudicators.” Updated April 2021.
Zarbiyev, Fuad. “Judicial Activism.” Updated November 2018.
Vauchez, Stéphanie Hennette. “Gender Balance in International Adjudicatory Bodies.” Updated July 2019.
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law. Oxford Public International Law. https://oxcon.ouplaw.com/home/mpeccol:
Swart, Mia. “Independence of the Judiciary.” Updated March 2019.
Mikuli, Piotr. “Impartiality of the Judiciary.” Updated November 2017.
Dziedzic, Anna. “Selection of Judges.” Updated January 2020.
Tamaruya, Masayuki. “Lay Judges.” Updated December 2016.
Ejima, Akiko. “Clerks of Constitutional Courts/Supreme Courts.” Updated December 2017.
Commentaries
Zimmermann, Andreas, Christian J. Tams, Karin Oellers-Frahm, and Christian Tomuschat, eds. The Statute of the International Court of Justice: A Commentary. 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2019).
Schabas, William A. The International Criminal Court: A Commentary on the Rome Statute. 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2016). See Part IV.
Schabas, William A. The European Convention on Human Rights: A Commentary. (Oxford University Press, 2015). See Section II.
Wägenbaur, Bertrand, ed. Court of Justice of the European Union: Commentary on Statute and Rules of Procedure. (Beck/Hart/Nomos, 2013).
Burgorgue-Larsen, Laurence, and Amaya Úbeda de Torres. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Case Law and Commentary. Translated by Rosalind Greenstein. (Oxford University Press, 2011).
Murray, Rachel. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: A Commentary. (Oxford University Press, 2019). See the Introduction, Part D, on the establishment of and relationship between the African Commission and the Court.
Rao, P. Chandrasekhara, and Philippe Gautier. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; Law, Practice and Procedure. (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018).
Books
Some individual chapters in the following books are included above. I’ve also listed the books below when I think the entire book may be of interest.
Terris, Daniel, Cesare P.R. Romano, and Leigh Swigart. The International Judge: An Introduction to the Men and Women Who Decide the World’s Cases. (Oxford University Press, 2023).
Seibert-Fohr, Anja, ed. Judicial Independence in Transition. (Springer, 2012).
Lee, H.P., ed. Judiciaries in Comparative Perspective. (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
Epstein, Lee, Gunnar Grendstad, Urška Šadl, and Keren Weinshall, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour. (Oxford University Press, 2023).
Engstad, Nils A., Astrid Laerdal Froseth, and Bard Tonder. The Independence of Judges. (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014).
Fontaine, Lauréline. La Constitution maltraitée: anatomie du Conseil constitutionnel. (Mare & Martin, 2023).
Romano, Cesare P.R., Karen J. Alter, and Yuval Shany, eds. The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication. (Oxford University Press, 2014).
Schabas, William A., and Shannonbrooke Murphy, eds. Research Handbook on International Courts and Tribunals. (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017).
Gomez-Acebo, Alfonso. Party-Appointed Arbitrators in International Commercial Arbitration. (Kluwer Law International, 2016).
Yeh, Jiunn-rong, and Wen-Chen Chang, eds. Asian Courts in Context. (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
Series on Judicial Independence. This is a long-standing series of monographs with Shimon Shetreet as the primary editor. Given the overlap of topics between these monographs and the period of time they cover, I only reviewed the four most recent titles in the series for inclusion in the list below.
Shetreet, Shimon, and J. Deschênes, eds. Judicial Independence: The Contemporary Debate. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1985. [Part I: twenty-nine country profiles with sections on appointment, tenure, accountability, etc.; Part II: international guidance and some short commentary on international judges and the CJEU; Part III: collection of six essays on independence and accountability generally.]
Shetreet, Shimon, and Christopher Forsyth, eds. The Culture of Judicial Independence: Conceptual Foundations and Practical Challenges. (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2011). Starting with this volume, rather than country profiles addressing most issues, there are articles across topics, some focused on one jurisdiction and some comparative.
Shetreet, Shimon, ed. The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace. (Brill, 2014).
Shetreet, Shimon, and Wayne McCormack, eds. The Culture of Judicial Independence in a Globalised World. (Brill, 2016).
Shetreet, Shimon, Hiram Chodosh, and Helland Eric, eds. Challenged Justice: In Pursuit of Judicial Independence. (Brill, 2021).
Shetreet, Shimon, and Hiram Chodosh, eds. Judicial Independence: Cornerstone of Democracy. (Brill, 2024).
Miscellaneous
The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals (journal). https://brill.com/view/journals/lape/lape-overview.xml.
International Commission of Jurists. International Principles on the Independence and Accountability of Judges, Lawyers and Prosecutors, Practitioners Guide No. 1. Geneva: International Commission of Jurists, 2007. https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/International-Principles-on-the-Independence-and-Accountability-of-Judges-Lawyers-and-Procecutors-No.1-Practitioners-Guide-2009-Eng.pdf.
Conclusion: A Few Disparate Thoughts
First, although this list is extensive, I am positive it is still incomplete given the topic’s great importance, its strong historical coverage, and the wide range of geographies and languages involved. There were at least three books cited multiple times in the literature that I was unable to review:
Ruiz Fabri, Hélène, and Jean-Marc Sorel, eds. Indépendance et impartialité des juges internationaux. (A. Pedone, 2010).
Handbuch Bundesverfassungsgericht im politischen System. (Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2023).
Orth, Christopher. Verfassungsrichter und ihre frühere Beteiligung an Gesetzgebungsverfahren: Eine Untersuchung über Richterausschluss und -ablehnung in Deutschland und dem Vereinigten Königreich. (Duncker & Humblot, 2022).
Second, one theme that did not fit concisely into one section was the use of judicial independence structures to paradoxically strengthen authoritarian regimes. This cuts across several topics: the removal of judicial self-discipline/governance, how selections are made, and retirement age. While there is significant scholarship on the role of judges in authoritarian regimes, it primarily focuses broadly across judiciaries, a limiting feature of this bibliography.Footnote 9 However, anyone researching judicial independence should pay close attention to the issues surrounding authoritarianism.
Finally, one last note on Artificial Intelligence (AI). During the research, I occasionally applied an AI translator to titles, abstracts, and some textual sections to confirm the content when the item was not available in English.Footnote 10 I also used some AI tools to help with the source citations. When I originally drafted the citations, I used a modified version of The Bluebook Footnote 11 but needed to convert them into Chicago Footnote 12 style to align with this journal’s style requirements. The idea of translating more than thirty pages of citations from Bluebook to Chicago, a style guide I knew little about, was too daunting to consider, so I used Gemini and ChatGPT to help create the citations.Footnote 13 I then edited the output, as there was something incorrect in each citation.
In one interesting example, Gemini produced a book citation but indicated I was missing the city of publicationFootnote 14 and noted this with the bracket “[City of publication if known].” However, earlier in the citation, it provided the names of three of the book’s editors, but two of the editors’ names were hallucinations—that is, people who had not actually edited the book! I am intrigued and frustrated by the idea that the service did not hallucinate the city name but instead hallucinated the editors’ names.Footnote 15 Curious, indeed! In any case, I have done my best to review all the citations for accuracy, and if any errors remain, they are mine alone. There are potentially some use cases here for AI, even in a traditional librarian product like a bibliography, although AI is not in a place yet where it can fully substitute for a keen eye.
