Court Appointed Scientific Expert

"C.A.S.E."

The C.A.S.E. program is the result of a joint study of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (A.A.A.S.) and the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists, a joint standing committee of the American Bar Association (A.B.A.).  See also the A.A.A.S. division "Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and the Law".

The C.A.S.E. project was originally conceived by the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists.  Federal judges and members of the legal and scientific communities helped design the project.  Judge Pamela Ann Rymer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, California, chairs the nine person advisory committee.

Since 1975, judges have had the authority to appoint their own experts under Rule 706 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.  However, in the absence of a link between the judiciary and the scientific and engineering communities, judges have seldom used this authority when scientific evidence was involved.  The Supreme Court's landmark opinion in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993) further instructed judges to act as "gatekeepers" when determining the admissibility of scientific evidence, placing an added burden on judges.

The project has been endorsed by Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, who said "I believe we must build legal foundations that are sound in science, as well as in law".

John A. Tylawsky, P.E. has been pre-qualified as a C.A.S.E. participant through peer review of his professional credentials and acceptance into the National Academy of Forensic Engineers. 

Note:  Some of the information above has been taken from the A.A.A.S. press release on the C.A.S.E. project.