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21 Duke J. Const. L. & Pub. Pol'y 1 (2026)

handle is hein.journals/dukpup21 and id is 1 raw text is: REFLECTIONS ON JUDGING AT THE INTERSECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL CLAIMS AND PUBLIC POLICY HON. KIMBERLY J. MUELLER (RET.) DIRECTOR, BOLCH JUDICIAL INSTITUTE DAVID F. LEVI PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE OF LAW Thank you, Kyle. And thank you for inviting me to share a few reflections as part of this symposium. It is a pleasure to be here. As I begin, I want to acknowledge the incredible pressures courts face today. Pressures courts can and must withstand-with your help, and the help of many others too. We tend to talk about the Constitution in our democratic republic as if it resides someplace else, in appellate opinions, especially in high profile Supreme Court cases, or at the center of moments of national crisis. And its main home seems to be Washington, D.C. But for most people, the Constitution is experienced much closer to the ground. And when those people have constitutional claims that need addressing, they head to a trial court to tell their story and seek a hearing, expecting the court to listen and understand and decide. If appellate courts announce the law, in particularly important and consequential ways, it is trial courts that breathe life into the law. They are where claims are first floated, where facts are developed and tested, where people are heard, and where due process is practiced in real time. When legal issues percolate up, they do so based on a trial court record. And if it is an appellate court that affirms or reverses, it is the trial court where judgment is entered. I do know something about the trial court, having served as a federal trial judge for almost 23 years, until just over a month ago. (I'm still molting, but am fully retired from judging.) In my court, way out