Court Rules and Workload: A Case Study of Rules Governing Amicus Curiae Participation
Karen O'Connor and Lee Epstein

Justice System Journal 8 (1): 35-45 (1983)
Click here for the article

Abstract
Given recent comments from several Justices of the current U.S. Supreme Court concerning their workload , this note examines whether the Court has invoked its own rules to limit the number of amicus curiae briefs with which it deals each term.  Our findings indicate that the Justices rarely reject petitions to file amicus curiae briefs pursuant to Rule 27 (a).  One possible explanation for this result, which is explored here, is that members of the Court rely heavily on amicus curiae  briefs to formulate their opinions.

keywords: amicus curiae, Supreme Court, interest groups, judicial workload, lobbying, decision-making, court rules, legal advocacy, Burger Court, public interest law