The Battle for the Court: Interest Groups, Judicial Elections, and Public Policy by LawrenceBaum, DavidKlein, and Matthew J.Streb. Charlottesville, University of Virginia Press, 2017. 184 pp. $44.99.

2018 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
pp. 760-762
Author(s):  
Michael J. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
University Of Virginia ◽  
Judicial Elections

The Use of Amicus Briefs

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Amicus Curiae ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Judicial Outcomes ◽  
Normative Issues

Judicial decisions play an important role in shaping public policy. Recognizing this, interest groups and other entities lobby judges in an attempt to translate their policy preferences into law. One of the primary vehicles for doing so is the amicus curiae brief. Through these legal briefs, amici can attempt to influence judicial outcomes while attending to organizational maintenance concerns. This article examines scholarship on the use of amicus briefs pertaining to five main areas: ( a) why amicus briefs are filed, ( b) who files amicus briefs and in what venues, ( c) the content of amicus briefs, ( d) the influence of amicus briefs, and ( e) normative issues implicated in the amicus practice. In addition to presenting a critical review of the scholarship in these areas, this article also provides suggestions for future research on amicus briefs.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Rachel Kahn Best
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
Or Organization

For more than a century, disease campaigns have been the causes Americans ask their neighbors to donate to and the issues that inspire them to march and volunteer. Studies of social movements, interest groups, agenda setting, and social problems tend to focus on contentious politics and study one movement or organization at a time. But these approaches cannot reveal why disease campaigns are the battles Americans can agree to fight, why some diseases attract more attention than others, and how fighting one disease at a time changes charity and public policy. Understanding the causes and effects of disease campaigns, requires studying consensus politics and collecting data on fields of organizations over long time periods.

scholarly journals Presidential Address: The Invisible Historian

2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
The Future

Abstract Although contemporary events have made it appear that there is widespread support in Canada for history as a discipline, the reality is otherwise. Many individuals, interest groups, and even institutions make considerable use of historical arguments in public debate to advance their causes, it is true. However, it is almost invariably the case that these advocates making historical arguments are not historians. This painful reality was brought home to the historical profession in 1996-97 by such events as the release of the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and the debates over public policy issues such as copyright reform and a protocol for research involving humans. It is essential to the future of the discipline and of organisations such as CHAJSHC that historians reassert their role in the processes of researching, interpeting, and utilizing history in public discourse and academic arenas.

LGBT Politics and the Legislative Process

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald P. Haider-Markel ◽  
Abigail Vegter
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Family Experience ◽  
National State ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Lgbt Politics ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Lgbt People ◽  
Hiv Aids

National, state, and local legislatures develop and debate most of the LGBT-related public policy in U.S. legislatures, which is also where LGBT groups can often best represent the interests of their community, even if the outcomes are not always ideal. Most of the progress on legislation that expands protections for LGBT people has occurred when advocates can garner at least some bipartisan support, and some issues, such as HIV/AIDS, have attracted significantly more bipartisan support. Although Democratic legislators have tended to be more supportive than Republican legislators, legislator behavior is influenced by a variety of forces, including constituency opinion, interest groups and lobbyists, and religious traditions, as well as personal and family experience.

The role of super interest groups in public policy diffusion

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-541
Author(s):  
Stephanie L. DeMora ◽  
Loren Collingwood ◽  
Adriana Ninci
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Policy Diffusion ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Policy Networks ◽  
Advocacy Coalition Framework ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Advocacy Coalition

In recent years scholarship has drawn attention to the role of large multi-issue interest groups in policy networks and in public policy diffusion. This paper develops this field of study by demonstrating empirically the leverage of the ‘sustained organisational influence’ theory of policy diffusion. Specifically, it focuses on the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in diffusing the Stand Your Ground policy across US state legislatures. By comparing ALEC’s template policy to bills introduced and legislation subsequently enacted within state legislatures, we demonstrate that ALEC has positioned itself as a ‘super interest group’, exerting sustained organisational influence across an expanding number of states. In doing so, this paper moves theory beyond the typical advocacy coalition framework that implicitly assumes policymaking occurs discretely among specialists on an issue-by-issue basis. It also highlights the democratic implications of the role of super interest groups in shaping policy behind the scenes.

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