National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers

JudgeGPT: The Benefits and Challenges of an AI Judiciary

As litigators begin to incorporate artificial intelligence into their work, some courts are doing the same. A pilot program in Estonia allows litigants in small claims court to submit their disputes to a computer program. Some Brazilian judges regularly use artificial intelligence when drafting decisions. And a virtual judge presides over court proceedings in some parts of China, although human judges make the final decisions. Before American litigators immediately dismiss this trend, or fully embrace it, I offer two benefits and two challenges that this technology may offer to the judiciary.

If the Trump administration defies the courts, what can be done about it?

What happens if the president decides to ignore the Supreme Court? According to constitutional experts, not much. Part of the problem, says Richard Garnett, the Paul J. Schierl professor of law at the Notre Dame Law School, is that courts have always been reliant on the cooperation of the executive branch to enforce their orders and comply with decisions, regardless of whether or it agrees with them.

WEBINAR: Humor: An Important Leadership Tool

Join us for this 60-minute webinar. We’ll look at how you as a court leader can use humor with intention, mine your own life for material, and keep it appropriate. Everyone is funny in their own way and can perfect their sense of humor and learn to deploy it more effectively in strategic ways to help strengthen relationships, unlock creativity in others, and boost resilience in difficult times. Research shows people appreciate almost any kind of levity, provided it is not hurtful or offensive. It’s not hard to stay on the right side of that line.

The new SCOTUS term looks to reshape America’s constitution

THE PHRASE “checks and balances” does not appear anywhere in the United States constitution; and yet in a manual for Martians on how America governs itself it would be on page one. Those three words are a reminder that the country has an unwritten constitution, which resides in beliefs, behavior and legal precedents, to go alongside its more celebrated written constitution. They describe how the branches of government compete for power—a contest where, the founding fathers wrote, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” The question for the Supreme Court’s new term, which starts October 1, is: how much ambition do the justices have?

WEBINAR: The Art of Leading Leaders in Trial Courts

Join us for a 75-minute discussion about what high-powered, talented, influential people, both inside and outside the justice system, expect of court leaders when those leaders have limited authority over the persons they are supposed to lead. This online seminar is the fourth installment in NAPCO’s series on research-based leadership advice for trial court leaders.

NAPCO Newsletter (October 2025)

Read the latest issue of the NAPCO quarterly newsletter, including the annual conference recap, a new purpose statement, and a message from the NAPCO Chair & Executive Director.

Will AI help or hurt democracy? We have a user manual for that

You probably haven’t thought about philosophers John Locke or Thomas Hobbes since high school, or that required college class. They died centuries before personal computing was invented, let alone the artificial intelligence technologies that now infuse many parts of our daily life. What could they possibly teach Americans about living in a world with AI?

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