Week 4 — October 1, 2018
AGs and U.S. Supreme Court Practice
Syllabus: The Role of the State Attorney General
Other than the U.S. Solicitor General, state government is by far the most frequent litigant in the U.S. Supreme Court on such issues as the death penalty, climate change, gun control, foreclosure jurisdiction, immigration, voting rights and, of course, the Affordable Care Act. This class will study states’ practice before the Supreme Court, including the important role played by attorneys general submitting amici curiae briefs.
Guest: Dan Schweitzer, Class of ‘89, NAAG Supreme Court Counsel
Statistics on Amicus Briefs filed by States in the U.S. Supreme Court, NAAG (2018)
Dan Schweitzer, Who Argues for the States in the U.S. Supreme Court (2017)
Kevin C. Newsom, “The State Solicitor General Boom,” 32 Appellate Practice J. 6 (2013)
Respondent’s Brief (Ted Cruz), Medellín v. Dretke Director, Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions (2005) (Winner of NAAG Best Brief Award)
The State of the State Before the Supreme Court, Empirical SCOTUS
Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), June 23, 2014