www.njdc.com/njonline/no_20090831_2098.php -
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Published on: 8/31/2009
Last Visited: 9/1/2009
"This is, at least in the First Amendment/free expression context, the most that we've ever seen," said Ronald K.L. Collins, a scholar at the First Amendment Center, an educational nonprofit run by the Freedom Forum.
The flood of briefs, which represents a trend not limited to Citizens United, could actually hinder the judicial process more than help it, Collins argues.
"The purpose of amicus briefs is not a statement of solidarity, it's not to petition for grievances," Collins noted.
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"It's hard to imagine that any justice or clerk in any of the chambers will read all of these briefs," declared Collins, of the First Amendment Center.
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Collins goes so far as to suggest that the Supreme Court might at some point consider "reasonable constraints" on the number of briefs that may be filed for any one case.