Does the filing of amicus curiae briefs improve the likelihood of a party’s success? One study found the “differences in success rates of litigants who received amicus support and those who did not was trivial.” K. J. Lynch, Best Friends?: Supreme Court Law Clerks on Effective Amicus Curiae Briefs, 20 J. L. & Politics 33, 37 (Winter 2004). Yet, amicus filings in the United States Supreme Court have increased more than 800% since the 1950s, and now are made in 98% of the Court’s cases. A.O. Larsen & N. Devins, The Amicus Machine, 102 Va. L. Rev. 1901, 1902 (Dec. 2016).  

Both the United States Supreme Court and our courts in New Jersey are receptive to amicus participation. “Even when a party is very well represented, an amicus may provide important assistance to the court,” Neonatology Assocs., P.A. v. Comm’r, 293 F.3d 128, 132 (3d Cir. 2002), as reflected in “an increasing propensity by the [United States Supreme] Court to both quote and reference amicus briefs in written decisions.” Lynch, 20 J.L. & Politics at 35-36.

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