Study

This seminar will introduce students to questions that lie beyond—or before—the resolution of cases by the Supreme Court, concerning how and by whom cases are brought to the Court, and how the roles played by different types of advocates create the information environment in which the justices make their decisions. Unlike its co-equal branches, the Court does not control its agenda but instead relies on lawyers and clerks. These institutional features contribute to the Court’s opacity and potentially allow a select few to have outsized influence on an institution that, by design, is already non-democratic. The course will begin with some background on case-selection—how the Court came to have discretionary jurisdiction, and what we know about the “cues” the justices use to select cases for decision. We will then study four different groups that play important roles in shaping the Court’s docket: the U.S. Solicitor General; state attorneys general and solicitors general; the elite private Supreme Court bar; and legal advocacy organizations. The discussion in this part of the course will cover not only how cases are teed up for the justices but also how sophisticated groups construct “cases and controversies” at the outset, searching out issues and parties that might serve as good vehicles for moving the law. We will then turn to the role of amici—the increasingly well-coordinated network of “friends” that supplies the justices with information about the cases they will decide. Finally we will spend a week on the justices’ clerks, canvassing what is known about how they are selected and the influence they may (or may not) exert on their bosses. LLMs must have instructor permission to enroll.

Special Notes:

*New*

Spring 2026

Course Number	Course Credits	Evaluation Method	Instructor
776.01	2	Reflective Writing Research paper option, 25+ pages Class participation	Margaret H. Lemos
Canvas site: https://canvas.duke.edu/courses/75805