The Influence of Business Groups as Amici on Judges in the U.S. Courts of Appeals Open Access

McCall, Adam Winfield (2012)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/p5547s32b?locale=en
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Abstract


Abstract
The Influence of Business Groups as Amici on Judges in the U.S. Courts of Appeals
Much has been written about the influence of business interest groups on U.S. federal
government policy making. While most of the existing literature focuses on administrative rule
making and legislative policy, this thesis explores the effectiveness of business interests in
lobbying the federal judiciary. Thus, this study measures the impact that business groups have
when participating as amici, friends of the court, before the U.S. Courts of Appeals. I used
existing data about federal appellate cases collected from 1997-2002 and added new information
about the different interest groups which participated, including their average expenditures on
lobbying during that time period. I find that business groups, particularly well-resourced ones,
tend to account for most of the impact that amicus briefs have on a judge's vote. This effect is
much clearer when businesses file for appellants than when they support respondents. Aside
from federal agencies, other groups have little success when filing amicus briefs. However, my
thesis finds that organizations which specialize in legal advocacy do appear to help appellants
when they submit amicus briefs. My thesis raises questions about whether the federal courts
provide a level playing field for all participants in litigation or whether certain groups are
advantaged due to their expertise and resources.

Table of Contents


Table of Contents
Table of Contents
I. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1
II. Courts and Public Policy………………………………………………………………...2
III. Interest Groups and the Courts………………………………………………………...4
IV. Amicus Briefs and Judicial Decision Making……………………………………….....9
V. Principal Hypotheses…………………………………………………………………...14
VI. Other Factors Influencing Judicial Decision Making………………………………..15
VII.
Data………………………………………………………………………………….18
VIII. Analysis: An Overview of the Data………………………………………………..25
Table 1: Respondent Success in Dataset..............................………………………28
Table 2: Distribution of Amici in Favor of Appellant and Respondent………...30
IX. Analysis: An Examination of the Hypotheses………………………………………..31
Table 3: Baseline Showing Effects of Control Variables…………………………32
Table 4: Effect of Presence of Amici………………………………………………33
Table 5: Effect of Number of Amicus Groups……………………………………34
Table 6: Effect of Business, Federal, and Other Amici…………………………..36
Table 7: Effect of Number of Business, Federal and Other Amici………………37
Graph 1: Predicted Probability of Pro-Respondent Vote with Business Amici...39
Table 8: Effect of Average Lobbying Expenditures by Amici…………………...40
Table 9: Influence of Lobbying Expenditures by Amici Supporting
Appellant…………………………………………………………………………….41

Table 10: Effect of Specialized Legal Advocacy Amici…………………………..42
Table 11: Predicted Probability of Pro-Respondent Vote for Pro-Appellant
Legal Groups………………………………………………………………………..43

Table 12: Effect of Business, Federal, and Other Amici on Judge's Pro-Business
Votes…………………………………………………………………………………44

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