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Excuse me, non-American here, but a passage from an article linked within states[0]: > The nine justices request that U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, J
by lorddoig 11y ago
Excuse me, non-American here, but a passage from an article linked within states[0]:
> The nine justices request that U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr., the government's top lawyer before the Supreme Court, weigh in on about 20 cases a year in which the federal government has a strong interest. The justices generally give greater weight to what he or she says than other third parties that take a side in a case, an influence which has caused the solicitor general to be dubbed the "tenth justice."
Question: what the fuck?
[0]: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/15/google-oracle-lawsuit-idUSL1N0Y32YG20150515
- estsauver 11y agoThird parties can generally file something called an "amicus brief" which is more or less "an opinion from a friend of the court." The court takes this opinion into account, it's not that Oracle and Google aren't listened to, it's that the Federal government basically gets a chance to say what it thinks.
- shit_parade2 11y agoSG sometimes become supreme court justices. But more generally the lawyer a justice will hear from the most during any given period is most likely the current t SG.
- dragonwriter 11y agoNote, they give more weight to the SG than other third parties, not -- at least per the given description -- more weight than actual litigants.
- bcg1 11y ago> Question: what the fuck? American here. We are aware of the problem, but due to high call volume and a totally corrupt/captured/entrenched corporate & government bureaucracy, you may experience long wait times.