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Counterbalancing the disadvantages of the “Have Nots”: an examination of the impact of amicus participation in state supreme court cases

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Abstract

Party capability theory posits that litigation success is predicated on litigants’ experience as parties to lawsuits as well as their access to resources. The stakes are particularly high for disadvantaged litigants in asymmetric power relationships, such as those between government (“The Haves”) and criminal defendants (“The Have Nots”). Scholars have found that interest group participation via amicus curiae—or “friend of the court”—briefs can reduce litigant power disparities in federal appellate cases, but it remains unclear whether the same holds in criminal matters before courts of last resort. As a starting point to understanding interest group behavior in state supreme court criminal cases, this study examines party capability theory and the extent to which, if any, amicus participation affects decision making that favors the government. Findings underscore the importance of interest group participation that supports disadvantaged litigants and the impact crime severity has on outcomes in criminal state supreme court cases.

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Notes

  1. Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. n.d. Criminal cases. United States Courts. http://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/types-cases/criminal-cases (Accessed December 22, 2018).

  2. While states vary in terms of how and where amicus brief filers are identified in court opinions (e.g., in the beginning, denoting the side the brief supports), none of opinions included copies of or links to briefs filed in the case. If party support could not be determined based on language in the opinion, they were coded as supporting neither or unknown.

  3. Dominguez, Ivan J. 2018. “Amicus Briefs.” National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers NACDL. https://www.nacdl.org/Amicus/ (Accessed December 20, 2018).

  4. Buckler (2015) categorized “citizen” cases as those filed by a non-incarcerated citizen who filed a lawsuit against a government entity or agent for violation of clearly established civil rights (referred to as a Section 1983 lawsuit). Cases labeled as “defendants” are those involving a convict appealing his or her conviction during the original appeal stage (versus post-conviction stage), and “inmates” are cases filed by an inmate under Section 1983 lawsuit or a post-conviction filing challenging an aspect of his or her incarceration.

  5. Death Penalty Information Center. 2018. “States with and without the Death Penalty.” Death Penalty Information Center. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty (Accessed December 20, 2018).

  6. Death Penalty Information Center. 2014. “Death Penalty on Hold in Most of the County.” Death Penalty Information Center. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/5829 (Accessed May 7, 2019).

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  1. Department of Political Science, Lamar University, Beaumont, USA

    Bianca Easterly

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  1. Bianca Easterly
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Correspondence to Bianca Easterly.

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Easterly, B. Counterbalancing the disadvantages of the “Have Nots”: an examination of the impact of amicus participation in state supreme court cases. Int Groups Adv 8, 579–599 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41309-019-00057-w

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