These final set of comments are, like the earlier ones, thoughtful and helpful. I had not previously seen debated the anonymous petition/brief issue. There was only one comment that I recall that posed a specific question back to me, which I will try here to respond in this final blog. The question concerned the percentage […]
Author Archive | Richard Lazarus
Advocacy Matters — Correction
Just spotted an error in my post a few moments ago. Jeff Fisher (who remains as before an excellent lawyer) was on the opp in Exxon. My mistake. Too much Halloween candy, perhaps.
Advocacy Matters: More Responses to More Comments
These second set of comments are just terrific. I am going to select out just a few for response. 1. It is certainly true that the impact of the advocate is greater at the cert stage than on the merits. I draw that distinction in the article and explain the reasons why, which largely relate […]
Advocacy Matters: An Update and A Few Responses to Comments
One threshold note. The Court granted review yesterday (Monday 10/29) in only two cases: the Exxon Valdez damages case and the Allied Engine qui tam case. The petitioners in both cases were the business defendants and, consistent with my thesis, petitioner’s counsel of record in the first case was Walter Dellinger and the second case […]
Advocacy Matters
This article originated in some research I was doing on the dismal record of environmentalists in Supreme Court cases involving the National Environmental Policy Act. Not only have environmentalists failed to persuade the Court to grant a single petition (in more than 150 tries), but on the 14 (depending how one counts certain cases) occasions […]