Law & Courts Volume 18, No.1, Winter 2008 1 Law & Courts NEWSLETTER OF THE LAW & COURTS SECTION OF THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION A Letter from the Section Chair Howard Gillman dean@college.usc.edu University of Southern California As we usher in a New Year I want to begin by thanking everyone who devotes their time and good judgment to the well-being of our section. In 2007 we welcomed Gretchen Helmke, Kevin Quinn, and Ge- rald Rosenberg as members of our Executive Committee, joining Timothy Johnson and Doris Marie Provine. Wendy Martinek is doing a terrific job as our new Secretary, and Gordon Silverstein continues to do yeoman’s work as our Treas- urer. Christine Harrington sees to it that the Law and Courts website remains up to date with useful information and resources. Stef Linquist and Julie Novkov are – at this very moment – toil- ing away at putting together the panels for the 2008 annual meeting. Wayne McIntosh may deserve the title of Hardest Working Member of Law and Courts as the editor of the amazing Law and Politics Book Review. Nancy Maveety has taken over the reigns of “lawcourts-l”, the Law and Courts Discussion List – successfully overseeing a transfer of the list database to Tulane (new address law- court-l@tulane.edu). Art Ward is the new editor of this newsletter and he has assembled a great issue. Dozens of you – too many to mention here – responded to my invitation that you serve on one of our many section committees, and we’re all grateful for your service. As of the end of 2007 our section can boast of exactly 800 members, making us the 6 th larg- est section (of 35) behind Comparative Politics (1586), Political Methodology (1047), Qualitative and Multi-method Research (1042), Public Policy (980), and Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior (903). We do better than Federalism, Legislative Studies, Public Administration, and the Presidency Research Group, which means, I suppose, that we get the gold medal in the separation-of-powers membership derby. WINTER 2008 VOLUME 18 NO. 1 continued on page 4 Inside this issue: Mart Stier, Saul Bren- ner, Lawrence Baum, Eileen Braman, Vanessa A. Baird, and Paul M. Collins, Jr. -- plus “Books to Watch For” and “Upcoming Conferences.”