The Judiciary and the Rule of Law
A strong and independent judiciary is fundamental to the rule of law. The Neukom Center’s research on the judiciary and the rule of law focuses on how strong judiciaries are created and sustained, by both informal and formal norms, and how innovations by the judiciary can strengthen the judicial system and fortify the rule of law.
The Project on Judicial Transitions and the Rule of Law exemplifies our efforts. Launching with a September 2026 conference at Stanford, the project will establish a working group of top researchers and scholars on judicial transitions in jurisdictions moving from authoritarianism to democracy, gathering the best existing scholarship on judicial transitions, identifying additional questions to be addressed, and supporting the research needed to answer those questions. This group will partner with country-specific task forces made up of country leaders to share relevant insights and policy approaches to support those countries’ transition to democracy sustained by an independent judiciary and the rule of law. The project will serve as a hub of knowledge and practice on how to successfully transition a judiciary from an authoritarian past into a democratic future and ultimately to sustain and expand the rule of law worldwide.
Our Global Trends in Judicial Reform project takes a comparative approach to assess the impact of judicial reforms on the rule of law. Topics for research have included advances in judicial independence, judicial appointment and vetting mechanisms, balance of power structures, constitutional review, access to justice, and other factors affecting the rule of law. A new project, Judicial Education for Justice: Enhancing Legal Consistency and the Rule of Law in Colombia, takes a deep dive in one jurisdiction to assess the impact of an innovative judicial training program on the quality of judging and particularly on judicial consistency in decision making. The project will launch a randomized controlled trial with judges in Colombia to test the efficacy of a specially designed rule of law curriculum.
