In the Biggest Cases, Big Law Tilts Decisively Left | RealClearPolitics
What I found particularly notable about Muller s study, however, was the revelation that elite firms have monolithically advanced leftist positions in five cases since 2018 that Muller describes as possessing high salience. These are cases in which exceptionally large numbers of amicus briefs were filed at least 60 in each case an indication of their real or perceived significance. These cases, in Muller s words, touch on some of the most divisive areas of political controversy in America today.
These high-salience cases include Dobbs v. Jackson Women s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. WadeBostock v. Clayton County (consolidated with Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), which found that employment actions taken solely because of sexual orientation or gender identity violate Title VII s ban on sex discrimination; and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, which involved a challenge to a city ordinance requiring a Catholic foster and adoption service to violate its beliefs by placing children with unmarried and same-sex couples. Also included are another abortion case, June Medical Services v. Russo, and a Second Amendment case, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.
Abortion, religious freedom, gender identity, and Second Amendment rights these are the flashpoint social issues within American society. And in the five high-stakes cases studied by Muller, in which Big Law lawyers filed 98 merits amicus briefs, elite firms sided with the liberal position a staggering 94.9% of the time.
This data point provides a unique, and troubling, window into an elite stratum of American culture. As Muller notes in his study, large law firms very frequently file amicus briefs concerning cultural issues with the Supreme Court on a pro bono i.e., free of charge basis. These are projects of choice. They more closely reflect the personally held values of the drafters than do paid briefs in a run-of-the-mill commercial case, for instance.
Muller s study suggests that many of the elite members of the law profession hold views that are anathema to approximately half of all Americans. They seem at one with another lawyer, President Barack Obama, who once said of rural voters dislocated by rapid economic change that they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren t like them.