VERY LONG-RANGE JUDICIAL PLANNING IN THE PUBLIC POLICY PROCESS

Nearly two-thirds of the American states have produced reports that seek to understand the 20-30 year future for judiciaries. This article overviews a set of those reports.¹ The present is seen to trump the future in the sense that the reports largely fail to display the language, tools, and predictions that might be expected from "futurology." Instead, the reports are well-grounded in the professional interests of judges and designed to advance the well-being of judiciaries in familiar inter-branch contests for resources and policy leadership. Ultimately, the reports are policy formulation documents and, on their own terms, significant and successful.