Looking Forward: Interest Group Legal Strategy and Federalist Society Affiliation in the United States Circuit Courts of Appeal

Bird, Christine C.; McGee, Zachary A.

doi:10.1086/724189

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 17 publications

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“…We term this leg-judicial diffusion and argue that it is not restricted to ALEC but is part of a larger change in the paradigm of US federalism that looks to federal courts as the primary method for recalibrating the balance of powers. Also emblematic of this change is the success of the Federalist Society Affiliate Network in seating its members in federal courts (Bird and McGee 2023). Thus, model laws, once adopted into state code, sometimes become the basis for litigation in federal courts, forming a channel of diffusion that flows from states legislatures upward to federal courts.…”

Section: Leg-judicial Diffusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Courts-First Federalism: How Model Legislation Becomes Impact Litigation

Yingling,

Mallinson

2024

Perspect. polit.

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States and interest groups are facilitating a redistribution of government powers under a new courts-first federalism. States are working to claw back powers while interest groups drafting model laws strategically tailor them to skirt the limits of federal law and, once adopted by states, prompt federal courts to review them as parties litigate to clarify their rights. States do not need to be completely successful in litigation to shift the balance of state–national power. Testing this argument, we find that the US Supreme Court grants review to 17% of model laws in our sample produced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), whereas merely 1% of other cases are granted certiorari. Ultimately, the states and ALEC were partly successful in constraining federal power. Thus, the combination of model legislation, impact litigation, and courts-first federalism becomes a tool for states to draw power to themselves and from the federal government.

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Section: Leg-judicial Diffusionmentioning

confidence: 99%