The Place of Court-Connected Mediation in a Democratic Justice System

This Article will consider mediation as just one innovation within the much larger evolution of the judicial system of the United States. First, this Article will outline how the values of democratic governance undergird our traditional picture of the American justice system, presumably because the invocation of such values helps the system to deliver something that will be respected by the nation's citizens as "justice." The Article will then highlight particular aspects of the changing picture of the American civil justice system to suggest that today's sprawling and multitiered structure is increasingly disengaged from its democratic roots. Finally, the Article will examine the place of court-connected mediation in this evolution. Is it part of the reinvigoration or further erosion of a democratic justice system?