In her introduction to these informative videos, Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer of the Northern District of Illinois describes employment discrimination law as one of the most dynamic fields of federal law.

The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from requiring a criminal defendant to pay "excessive bail" in order to get out of jail before trial. Nevertheless, nearly half a million people across the country are in pretrial detention.

Some of the nation's top legal scholars discuss the U.S. Supreme Court's 2016–2017 term and analyze the decisions that are most likely to affect the work of federal judges.

In this issue:

• The Amistad Case and the Federal Courts
• Documenting the Careers of Federal Judges

The Court Historian was an occasional newsletter (discontinued) from the Federal Judicial History Office.