The Elite Supreme Court Bar

By Joan Biskupic, Janet Roberts and John Shiffman report at Reuters:

A Reuters examination of nine years of cases shows that 66 of the 17,000 lawyers who petitioned the Supreme Court succeeded at getting their clients’ appeals heard at a remarkable rate. Their appeals were at least six times more likely to be accepted by the court than were all others filed by private lawyers during that period.
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Of the 66 most successful lawyers, 51 worked for law firms that primarily represented corporate interests. In cases pitting the interests of customers, employees or other individuals against those of companies, a leading attorney was three times more likely to launch an appeal for business than for an individual, Reuters found.
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Although the Supreme Court is the most diverse it has ever been – three of the nine justices are women and two are minorities – the elite bar is strikingly homogeneous: Of the 66 top lawyers, 63 are white. Only eight are women.

It’s also a self-replicating group of insiders, many of whom previously held positions that offer them deep insight into how the court operates. Among the 66 leading lawyers, 31 worked as a clerk for a Supreme Court justice; in that role, they wrote memos for the justices that summarized petitions and highlighted cases that might be worth hearing. Twenty-five worked in top posts in the U.S. Office of the Solicitor General, whose lawyers represent the federal government before the court.

Shiffman reports:

Advocacy groups have long played an important role in Supreme Court litigation, crafting amicus or “friend of the court” briefs in significant cases. The American Civil Liberties Union and consumer-oriented Public Citizen regularly make such filings.

But perhaps no other national advocacy organization has so embraced the trend toward Supreme Court specialization as the chief American business lobby, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber has created the equivalent of a boutique law firm at its headquarters, one whose roster of talent now rivals some of Washington’s most elite practices.

Roberts, Biskupic and Shiffman report:

A Reuters analysis of high court records shows that a group of eight lawyers, all men, accounted for almost 20 percent of all the arguments made before the court by attorneys in private practice during the past decade.

In the decade before, 30 attorneys accounted for that same share.

In this ever more intimate circle, lawyers say, chemistry with the court is key. The October case was a milestone for the 48-year-old Clement: It marked the 75th time he had appeared before the high court, second most among active lawyers in private practice. The following week, at a party celebrating the feat, veteran attorney Lisa Blatt toasted Clement’s success.

“The justices love Paul,” Blatt declared. “They visibly relax when Paul stands up and they are smiling when he sits down.”

The Lobbying Olympics

The Center for Responsive Politics has calculated which organizations spent the most on lobbying from the beginning of 2009 to the end of 2011. It awarded "Olympic" medials to the top three:

BRONZE: With a $87 million lobbying push from the beginning of 2008 through the end of last year, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) takes home the bronze medal for this event. The group's most robust K Street operation came in 2009, when it spent over $26.1 million lobbying the federal government. PhRMA's more than 140 lobbyists direct most of their energy toward general health policy, Medicare and Medicaid and pharmaceutical issues. The majority of PhRMA's operation is run through its 25 in-house lobbyists, but the group also employs lobbyists from dozens of other firms around D.C.

SILVER: General Electric wins its second medal of the Influence Olympics, posting a $110.7 million lobbying figure from 2008 to 2011. During this period, GE spent the most by far in 2010. That year, it paid out $39.3 million to 195 different lobbyists, with most of the cash flowing to those working in-house. As noted in our last Influence Olympics post, GE has its hands in just about every policy area in Washington, including defense, budget and tax issues.

GOLD: Capturing its second gold medal in a row, the K Street giant U.S. Chamber of Commerce wins the Influence Olympics marathon after pouring a massive $460.1 million into its lobbying efforts from 2008 through 2011. The pro-business group's banner year came in 2010, when it spent over $157 million on lobbying. Like GE, the Chamber lobbies on seemingly every piece of legislation that makes its way around Capitol Hill, especially those dealing with finance and banking issues. The group's 87 in-house lobbyists are responsible for most of its government relations work, helping the Chamber accomplish what no Olympic runner has ever done -- take home the gold in both the 100 meter dash and the marathon.

The Chamber

Our interest groups chapter discusses trade associations. Tom Hamburger of McClatchy-Tribune reports on the growing significance of a key trade group, the US Chamber of Commerce.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is building a large-scale grass-roots political operation that has begun to rival those of the major political parties, funded by record-setting amounts of money raised from corporations and wealthy individuals.

The chamber has signed up some 6 million individuals who are not chamber members and has begun asking them to help with lobbying and, soon, with get-out-the-vote efforts in upcoming congressional campaigns.

See the link to the Friends of the U.S. Chamber

Those who welcome this development would say that it encourages active citizenship and grassroots deliberation. Skeptics would say that it strengthens business at the expense of unions and consumers.