Organized Interest Lobbying Strategies and the Decision to Participate at the U.S. Supreme Court as Amicus Curiae PDF Download

Author: Thomas Geoffrey Hansford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Judicial process
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Author: Scott A. Comparato
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313059586
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
Applying strategic approaches to both interest groups as amici curiae and state supreme court justices, Comparato investigates the influence of judicial retention methods and the ballot initiative on their behaivor. The results demonstrate that they behave strategically, attempting to achieve their goals within the confines of the institutional setting. What impact do state-level institutions have on the behavior of state supreme court justices and interest groups participating as amici curiae in those courts? Specifically, is the information provided by interest groups conditioned on the judicial retention system, or whether the state uses the ballot initiative, and does that information impact the decision-making process of the justices? Comparato answers these questions by employing strategic theories of judicial and group behavior, with groups motivated by the attainment of policy and group maintenance, and state supreme court justices motivated by policy and the continued maintenance of their position on the court. He argues that the information provided in amicus curiae briefs allows both groups and state supreme court justices to achieve their respective goals. In order to answer these questions, Comparto analyzes litigant and amicus curiae briefs as well as judicial decisions from seven state supreme courts to evaluate the effects of state-level institutions on the types of information provided to state supreme court justices, and how those justices respond to that information. The results suggest that interest groups do behave strategically, providing information to justices that they believe will be useful in helping the justices retain their seats on the court and achieve their desired policy outcomes. There is also support for the expectation that the information provided by litigants and amici, as well as the retention method, have a direct impact on the decision-making of justices.

Author: Julianna S. Gonen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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This book is a case study that shows how interest groups use the litigation process to further their policy agendas. The case detailed here revolves around issues of reproductive health. It is a good illustration of the commonly held view among judicial scholars that the judicial process is essentially the same as the political process, that in both cases there is room for influence from a variety of sources.

Author: John R. Wright
Publisher: Longman Publishing Group
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
In Interest Groups and Congress, John Wright surveys the history, organization, aims and processes of interest groups to explain how they influence and affect public policy and opinion in the US Congress. Throughout, he hews to a consistent and unifying theme: that interest groups wield influence through " the strategic presentation of specialized information to members of congress.

Author: Jennifer Nicoll Victor
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190228210
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1011

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Politics is intuitively about relationships, but until recently the network perspective has not been a dominant part of the methodological paradigm that political scientists use to study politics. This volume is a foundational statement about networks in the study of politics.

Author: Bryan Michael Black
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
The research presented in this dissertation analyzes interest group influence in the U.S. Courts of Appeals from 2003 through 2010. Specifically, it evaluates group influence via their participation as Amicus curiae. This dissertation examines Amicus activity as part of a three-stage process. The first stage is pre-merits influence. That is, when will groups participate as Amicus curiae and why do groups participate as amicus curiae? I find that groups behave strategically, participating in cases that maximize their goals and aid in organizational maintenance. The second stage is merits influence. That is, once a group has decided to participate as Amicus curiae, is the group effective at affecting judicial decision-making? I find that the quantity of the information presented to judges matters more than types of groups providing the information. The third and final stage is post-merits influence. That is, do groups receive benefits from Amicus participation in circuit courts cases after the court has rendered its decision? I find that Amicus activity in the Courts of Appeals increases the likelihood that the litigant petitions the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, providing an additional opportunity for a favorable legal outcome.

Author: Paul M. Collins, Jr.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190451696
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
The U.S. Supreme Court is a public policy battleground in which organized interests attempt to etch their economic, legal, and political preferences into law through the filing of amicus curiae ("friend of the court") briefs. In Friends of the Supreme Court: Interest Groups and Judicial Decision Making, Paul M. Collins, Jr. explores how organized interests influence the justices' decision making, including how the justices vote and whether they choose to author concurrences and dissents. Collins presents theories of judicial choice derived from disciplines as diverse as law, marketing, political science, and social psychology. This theoretically rich and empirically rigorous treatment of decision-making on the nation's highest court, which represents the most comprehensive examination ever undertaken of the influence of U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs, provides clear evidence that interest groups play a significant role in shaping the justices' choices.

Author: Rachel Harrison
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Over the course of the twentieth century, there has been a substantial increase in the number of amicus curiae briefs filed in the Supreme Court. These briefs provide the justices with important information from third parties regarding a case. Oftentimes, amicus briefs work to persuade the justices to decide a case in a certain manner. The government, interest groups, private citizens, and foreign entities all file these briefs. Through filing these briefs, they seek to promote their interests and viewpoints to the Court. As amicus brief participation has increased, the Court has been able to hear the opinions of individuals and entities it otherwise would not have been privy to. The United States Supreme Court is also the most insulated branch of government from public opinion, due to in part by the life-time tenures of the justices on the Court. This allows the members of the Court to make rulings without regard for public backlash or fear of being removed from the bench. These factors have led to research into what instances is the Court more or less likely to listen to the opinions of the amicus brief filers. Variables coded include the amount of language that the Court includes in its majority opinions from the filed amicus curiae briefs, whether the Court cites amicus briefs in the footnotes of its majority opinion, whether the brief filer is a public or private entity, the decision of the lower court, and the ideological direction of the Supreme Courts decision in order to develop a better understanding of how influential these brief filers actually are to the Court. The results of this study indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between the partisanship of the amicus brief filer and the majority decision of the Court. The decision of the lower court also had a statistically significant and negative relationship with the majority opinion of the Court, which demonstrates that there is a greater likelihood that the justices will overturn the decision of the lower court and produce an ideologically opposite majority opinion. The United States Solicitor General also had a high amicus brief success rate. Of the fifteen cases in which the Solicitor General filed an amicus brief, ten of the majority opinions of the Court reflected the same ideology set forth by the Solicitor Generals amicus brief.

Author: Tiina Itkonen
Publisher: Cambria Press
ISBN: 1604976268
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
This is an important book for readers with a specific interest in special education policy and political scientists who are more generally interested in the broader questions of public policy making. Itkonen investigates what types of groups participate in special education somewhere on a continuum between interest group and social movement; the relationship between group types and how they frame policy interests; how groups negotiate differences among themselves and with policy makers; and the relationships between a group's organizational character, its choice of targets and strategies, how it frames its policy interest, its arenas of action, its effectiveness in the legislative and judicial arenas, and the kinds of issue positions it takes.

Author: Paul M. Collins, Jr.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199707227
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
The U.S. Supreme Court is a public policy battleground in which organized interests attempt to etch their economic, legal, and political preferences into law through the filing of amicus curiae ("friend of the court") briefs. In Friends of the Supreme Court: Interest Groups and Judicial Decision Making, Paul M. Collins, Jr. explores how organized interests influence the justices' decision making, including how the justices vote and whether they choose to author concurrences and dissents. Collins presents theories of judicial choice derived from disciplines as diverse as law, marketing, political science, and social psychology. This theoretically rich and empirically rigorous treatment of decision-making on the nation's highest court, which represents the most comprehensive examination ever undertaken of the influence of U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs, provides clear evidence that interest groups play a significant role in shaping the justices' choices.