“The Amicus Machine” Lobbies Supreme Court

Legal teams preparing for Supreme Court cases are coordinating judicial lobbying campaigns aimed at gathering amicus curiae briefs, a study has shown. One team member works as the “amicus wrangler,” gathering authors. The other, the “amicus whisperer,” coordinates the messages of those briefs. “You can think of it as an orchestra and a conductor,” William and Mary Law School professor Allison Orr Larsen told the New York Times. “There are three different elements, and you have to match them up. There’s the message that you want the justices to hear, the person they need to hear it from and the lawyer who can translate into the correct language.” Prominent legal scholars like Judge Richard A. Posner have criticized the practice of using amicus curiae briefs to echo litigants’ arguments, calling them “an abuse.” However, the Times says, they are here to stay.