Supreme Court Clinic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Supreme Court Clinic is a specialized type of law school clinic which provides hands-on legal experience in Supreme Court litigation to law students. Clinics are directed by clinical professors and experienced Supreme Court litigators and represent typically indigent or needy clients in the Supreme Court of the United States. Assistance is provided pro bono.
The Supreme Court Clinic at the Stanford Law School was founded in 2004. By March 2006, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear five cases the clinic helped file and declined to hear three.[1]
The Supreme Court Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law was formed in Fall 2004; the Yale Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic was formed in Fall 2006; and the University of Virginia Supreme Court Litigation Clinic was formed in Fall 2006. Harvard Law School announced that it will launch a Supreme Court Clinic in Fall 2007.[2]
Supreme Court clinics generally file amicus briefs ("friend of the Court briefs"); petitions for certiorari, which are formal requests to the Court to decide a case; and merits briefs, which are formal legal arguments presented to the Court after it as agreed to take a case. Typically, experienced Supreme Court litigators help run the clinics. It is these litigators who represent the clinics before the Court during oral arguments.
For instance, as of February 2007, after just one semester of operation, the Yale Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic had filed two amicus briefs, a cert petition, and a merits brief; and had an active docket including two additional petitions for certiorari and one amicus brief. The merits brief, filed in February 2007[3] in the case of Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, dealt with taxpayer standing to bring suit against the executive for funding the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
[edit] References
- ^ Falcone, Michael. "Stanford Law Students Get Early Supreme Court Duty", The New York Times, March 15, 2006. Retrieved on January 25, 2007.
- ^ "Harvard Law School to launch Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Clinic".
- ^ "YLS Supreme Court Clinic Submits Merits Brief in Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation Case", Yale Law School Press Release, February 2, 2007. Retrieved on April 25, 2007.
