Representing the States Before the U.S. Supreme Court: State Amicus Brief Participation, the Policy-making Environment, and the Fourth Amendment

Shane A. Gleason and Colin Provost

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2016, vol. 46, issue 2, 248-273

Abstract: State attorneys general, situated at the intersection of the state and federal governments, are increasingly the subject of scholarly inquiry. Yet, little work examines what prompts them to participate as amici. The decision to participate as amici reveals important information about how state actors attempt to shape outcomes at the federal level. We investigate how the broader policy-making environment facilitates and constrains AG amicus brief initiation and joining. Analyzing all orally argued Fourth Amendment cases from 1970 to 2009, we find the characteristics of the policy-making environment shape AG amicus activity. Initiation is predicted by institutional resources; whereas joining is the product of legal case facts and institutional resources. Because prior research notes larger attorney general coalitions are more successful, we highlight the complexity of amicus participation by state actors and speak to the conditions under which state actors can mobilize large coalitions to shape federal search and seizure case law.

Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/publius/pjv042 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:publus:v:46:y:2016:i:2:p:248-273.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Publius: The Journal of Federalism is currently edited by Paul Nolette and Philip Rocco

More articles in Publius: The Journal of Federalism from CSF Associates Inc. Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().