Posted on 12/28/2014 2:25:14 PM PST by NoLibZone
Does the administration have any role in which cases are argued in the Supreme Court?
Do they have to take one side?
Or can the simply pass on the case?
What are the terms used for passing a case, or agreeing with one side?
Thank you!
Neither the executive or legislative branch have any say in what cases are heard and the DOJ has no role unless they are a party to the case.
There are plenty of examples where a government has refused to support the laws they are sworn to uphold. Look at DOMA.
I'm not getting your point. Suppose Private Citizen Joe Blow sues private company XYZ Corp. for violating the Investment Company Act of 1944. The Supreme Court hears an appeal in that case; how is the DOJ "placing themselves in the stead of the Court" if they don't file a brief?
I think he means a case where a federal law the administration dislikes is the issue at hand so they punt and intentionally lose, even though they were legally and ethically required to defend the law. DOMA, etc.
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/scotus-cellphone-ruling-nsa-fight-108331.html#ixzz3NEc6N1SX
OK, that makes more sense.
If the case involves defending the law, yes, the DOJ is supposed to defend it. But as we have seen in the Obumbmler administration (DOMA), that doesn’t always happen. Holder only defends the laws Obama likes and they ignore the others.
What if the WH doesn’t agree with the law being heard?
Do they still have to file an Amicus Brief?
Or can they stay away?
The Solicitor General is a direct functionary of the Department of Justice. He works for Holder.
He obeys the dictates of Zero.
Most Supreme Court cases do not involve a challenge to the validity of a federal law; they involve either a question of the interpretation of a federal law, the validity of a state law or court decision under the federal Constitution, or something similar.
If the validity of a federal law is involved, and the Administration doesn't want to defend the law (as Obama did in the DOMA case, and other administrations have occasionally done in the past), the DOJ will say so in their brief, but they won't refuse to file any brief at all if a brief has been "requested" by SCOTUS.
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