Archive
MUPD to test campuswide automatic door lockdown system on June 10 at 10:30 a.m.
The annual test will begin at 10:30 a.m. on June 10 — at that time all building doors will be locked, and card access will be denied to anyone trying to enter exterior building doors.
Judge Sykes in Her Own Words
A “Bold,” “Confident,” and Entertaining Moment at the Dedication of Eckstein Hall In the photo above, Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson (left) and Marquette University President, Rev. Robert A. Wild, S.J., (right), respectively applaud and laugh as Justice Antonin Scalia smilingly greets Judge Diane S. Sykes, upon her introducing him as the…
Minimalism and Its Limits
This is an edited text of a speech Judge Sykes gave as the B. Kenneth Simon Lecture in Constitutional Thought at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., on September 17, 2014, shortly before the beginning of the Supreme Court’s 10th term during the tenure of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. The full version can…
Lincoln and the Human Dimension of Law Practice
This is an edited text of remarks by Chief Judge Sykes at the Marquette Law Review banquet on March 28, 2025. One hundred and eighty-eight years ago this month, another newcomer to the profession was—like you—standing at the threshold of a career in the law. He started inauspiciously, but Providence had other ideas in mind.…
Citizens United in the Montana Supreme Court
This is an edited text of a talk Judge Sykes gave on a number of occasions, starting in November 2012. When I came to the Seventh Circuit in 2004, I had been a state court judge for 12 years—seven years on the trial-court bench in Milwaukee and five years on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. So…
Thoughts on the Book, ‘Cosmic Constitutional Theory,’ by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III
This an edited text of remarks by Judge Sykes to the Indianapolis Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society on December 12, 2012. One of the important and recurring themes in our perennial debate about constitutional adjudication is the role of judicial restraint. But the issue only rarely breaks through into the public consciousness. The role…
Learning the Rules, the Language—and the Pursuit of the Common Good
This is an edited text of remarks by Chief Judge Sykes at the orientation for first-year Marquette law students on August 22, 2025. I am a proud Marquette lawyer—Class of 1984—and I’m delighted to join you today as you begin your legal education at this wonderful law school. Forty-four years ago, I sat where you…
Sykes in the Classroom: Torts
My first-year torts class reaches something of a climax when we read Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., the landmark 1928 New York Court of Appeals decision. Palsgraf is one of those old chestnuts that are simply irresistible to law professors. It combines engrossing facts, beautiful writing, and philosophical richness. I would probably assign it…
Sykes in the Classroom: Legal Writing
Every fall semester, my first-year class in Legal Analysis, Writing & Research 1 is filled with eager students, excited to learn the law. Law students and lawyers know that legal writing is a skills class. I don’t teach doctrine for its own sake, as does, say, a torts professor who teaches about negligence, its elements,…
Sykes in the Classroom: Criminal Law
A little more than a decade ago, I switched from teaching Criminal Law with a traditional casebook, featuring opinions from across the United States, to doing so using almost entirely Wisconsin materials. One of the benefits of the change is that it allows students to start to familiarize themselves with the criminal code many of…