It is decidedly not the way the United States Supreme Court makes decisions: looking at the number of amici filing briefs on each side of a case. Indeed, we would want them to decide cases based upon the law, and not on some sort of popularity contest.
Still, the lop-sided nature of the amici score, and the vast array of Amici in support of COAST's position, in the case of Susan B. Anthony List and COAST v. the Ohio Elections Commission tells you something about the nature of the issues before the Court.
67 Amici have filed 22 briefs in favor of COAST's position before the U.S. Supreme Court. They include a broad spectrum amici such as the the Ohio Attorney General, the ACLU, the United States of America, and Citizens United, the Republican National Committee, the American Booksellers Association and the Alliance Defense Fund. (Several commentators have noted that it takes a malevolent complainant [former Congressman Steve Driehaus] and a pernicious statute to unite such a diverse army against the State of Ohio.)
On the other hand, ZERO briefs have been filed in support of the position of the State of Ohio. Not a single one.
That may tell us a little something about this oppressive regime that exists in Ohio, that no one but the Elections Commission itself thought it was worth defending.
The oral argument is April 22. Several COASTers are planning a sojourn to D.C. to watch the historic events unfold, the beginning of the restoration of our free speech rights in Ohio. Stay tuned.
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