How the Courts Work provides a plain English, straightforward explanation of the American court system. The authors take the reader step by step through both a civil and a criminal trial, revealing what actually happens in a courtroom from the perspective of the lawyers, the parties, and the judge. Along the way, the reader will learn the difference between federal and state courts, and between the work of trial judges and appellate judges such as those on the Supreme Court. The authors explain how judges get their jobs, basic constitutional rights that apply in criminal cases, plea...

How the Courts Work provides a plain English, straightforward explanation of the American court system. The authors take the reader step by step through both a civil and a criminal trial, revealing what actually happens in a courtroom from the perspective of the lawyers, the parties, and the judge. Along the way, the reader will learn the difference between federal and state courts, and between the work of trial judges and appellate judges such as those on the Supreme Court. The authors explain how judges get their jobs, basic constitutional rights that apply in criminal cases, plea...

At the far reaches of a stellar Empire, Thomas Kempis, a revered player of The Game, is caught up in the schemes of the Imperial Ambassador Jessup. Jessup may be planning a feint, or war, or revenge, or pacification of a sector-wide uprising. Kempis is swept up in Jessup's enigmatic plans, never assured whether he is meant to oppose or fulfill the uncertain will of the Ambassador's Emperor. Keeper Stations is a novel of dreams and desire, love and its absence, the imaginary conspiracies that haunt our lives.

This is a collection of reminiscences from visitors to the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, California, a Trappist monastery These contributions bring to life that tension between the secular and the holy; between inside and outside the monastic enclosure. These essays are about being in the moment as one walks to the chapel, or has a cup of tea; and about coming to or leaving the monastery, away from the place and desiring to be there. These are simple, straightforward poems, notes and diary extracts. None of the writers is an expert in theology or church history, or any master of the divine....

The first section of the book includes judges' answers to questions posed by a host of elementary and middle school visitors to the Superior Court of California, in the County of San Francisco. The questions range from how the courts work, treatment of prisoners, and what it takes to become a lawyer and a judge. The questions are serious, some light hearted, a few of them odd. Some were difficult to answer. The second section of the book collects a series of columns written for the California Council for the Social Studies. These address in a more systematic way the operation of the courts....