PRACTITIONER BLOG
Read our analyses of developments in Impact Litigation and stay current on class action law
“With Friends Like These” - How Not to Write an Amicus Brief: More Lessons On Class Action Law From Mr. T v. Social Media
Prompted by former President Trump’s spate of class actions against Facebook, Twitter, and Google, we recently shared some best practice tips on filing class actions, a topic close to our hearts. A new court filing and order in Mr. Trump’s case against Twitter offers us yet another opportunity to weigh in on a different and important subject to the Impact Fund’s mission—writing effective amicus briefs. So what have we learned? Write an amicus brief that actually says what you say it says. Write an amicus brief that is about an issue actually in the case. Don’t include six-page footnotes. Don’t suggest that the judge needs something explained at a fifth-grade level. Don’t tell the judge to issue an edict that the legislature pass a better law than the one on the books.
SCOTUS Issues Narrow Decision on Religious Refusal to Support Foster Care by Same-Sex Couples and Declines Opportunity to Create a Broad Right to Discriminate
Many LGBTQ+ advocates feared that the Supreme Court would use the Fulton decision as an opportunity to license discrimination against vulnerable groups on religious bases. Fortunately, the majority decision was narrowly focused on Philadelphia’s contracts with foster care agencies and made no general right for taxpayer-funded foster agencies to discriminate. Today’s decision is an important reminder that the primary responsibility of child services agencies is to help ensure that kids can be in loving homes where they can thrive—including those of LGBTQ families.