Amicus curiae

“ The motion of Law and Humanities Institute for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae is granted. The motion of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Inc. for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae is granted. The motion of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, et al. for leave to file a brief as amici curiae is granted. The motion of American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, et al. for leave to file a brief as amici curiae is granted. The motion of Richmond Newspapers, Inc., et al. for leave to file a brief as amici curiae is granted. The motion of American Editorial Cartoonists, et al. ”

“ The United States as amicus curiae takes a more contracted position, urging in its brief that the judgment is prima facie evidence of the conspiracy and also of the performance of such acts in accomplishing it as the jury in the criminal case, in rendering a verdict of guilty, necessarily found to have occurred, the latter to be determined by the trial judge in the treble-damage suit from the entire record in the criminal case. ”

“ The case was now, April 2d and 3d, 1873, reargued by the same counsel for the plaintiff in error as before; Mr. P. Phillips, in addition, as amicus curiae, expressing his views orally, and the late Mr. B. R. Curtis, in the same character, having submitted some observations in print. [3]
I. The old twenty-fifth section is repealed. ”

“ Reply Brief 4—13. To assure full airing of the question presented, we invited an amicus curiae (“amicus”) to argue in support of a third position, one Alabama has abandoned: Failure to appoint counsel to an indigent defendant “does not bar the imposition of a suspended or probationary sentence upon conviction of a misdemeanor, even though the defendant might be incarcerated in the event probation is revoked.” ”

“ On February 10, 1987, the American Psychological Association ("APA") joined with numerous behavioral and social scientists, as individual amici, in submitting a brief amicus curiae in the above-captioned case. Since that time, it has come to the attention of APA's Board of Directors that one of its constituent Boards had, previous to that date, established a task force to study the issues addressed in the amicus brief. That task force has not yet reached any final conclusions. ”

“ Whether and to what extent a State can enforce discovery rules against a defendant who fails to comply, by excluding relevant, probative evidence is a question raising Sixth Amendment issues which we have no occasion to explore. Cf. Brief for Amicus Curiae 17–26. It is enough that no such penalty was exacted here.
15 Petitioner's apparent suggestion to the contrary is simply not borne out by the facts of this case. The mere requirement that petitioner disclose in advance his intent to rely on an alibi in no way "fixed" his defense as of that point in time. ”

“ Since it was forbidden for ecclesiastics to act as advocates in the secular courts, those who left the clergy to become advocates adopted a close-fitting cap to hide their tonsures, which came to be called a "coif". The great litigation of the nation is conducted by a small group of men, as is indicated by the earliest Year Books of case decisions compiled by attorneys and students attending the court. These attorneys sit in court and will sometimes intervene as amicus curiae [friends of the court] . Parliament refers difficult points of law to them as well as to the justices. ”

“ In addition to 17 private parties, the States of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Washington intervened in the proceedings below. The Department of Justice of course represented the interests of the United States as plaintiff, and the Federal Power Commission participated as amicus curiae. ”

“ In his pro se brief, which was filed in 1959, he urged several trial errors but failed to raise the point that both the judge and the prosecutor had commented to the jury regarding petitioner's failure to testify. In 1965, this Court in Griffin v. State of California, supra, outlawed California's comment rule, as embodied in Art. I, § 13, of the California Constitution.
The constitutional requirement of substantial equality and fair process can only be attained where counsel acts in the role of an active advocate in behalf of his client, as opposed to that of amicus curiae. ”

“ Steven T. Wax, Federal Public Defender, Stephen R. Sady, Ruben L. Iniguez, and Amy Baggio, Chief Deputies Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon, and A.J. Kramer, Federal Public Defender, Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia, were on the brief for amicus curiae Federal Public Defender Habeas Corpus Counsel in support of the detainees.
Eugene R. Fidell and Ronald W. Meister were on the brief for amicus curiae the National Institute of Military Justice in support of the detainees. ”

“ Francis B. Burch, Atty. Gen., and Jon. F. Oster, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State of Maryland, as amicus curiae.
Elliot L. Richardson, Atty. Gen., and Alan J. Dimond, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State of Massachusetts, as amicus curiae. ”

“ Appellees argue that the segregation cases do not rule the instant case. There is argument in two of the amicus curiae briefs that we should strike out independently on the whole question of segregation, on the ground that recent world stirring events have set men to the reexamination of concepts considered fixed. ”

“ On a motion to dismiss the writ of error by which the judgment had been removed into this court, it was held, that the amount of the condition of the bond, and not of the judgment, controlled the jurisdiction, and the writ was dismissed.
Why should not the true amount, and not the fictitious, one, be allowed to control the jurisdiction in the present case, as well as in the one just cited? They both sound in damages; the fiction in the one case was in the judgment, in the other in the declaration. Why should a declaration be considered more conclusive than a judgment? ”

“ But it must be remembered, that the real question here is not, whether this great writ shall be freely and efficiently used, but whether our appellate power is large enough to extend to this case. The Circuit Court has power, upon its own views of the law, to inflict, not only imprisonment, but even the punishment of death, without appellate control by this court. Even when it is alleged, that the proceedings of a circuit court, by which a citizen is imprisoned, are coram non judice and void, its judgment is final, and no relief can be had here, by writ of error or appeal, or by habeas corpus. ”

“ But this is only one of the rules of evidence for the exercise of its jurisdiction as a court of error; it prescribes what shall and what shall not be received as evidence of what was done in the court below; and when an act of Congress cannot be executed without disregarding this general rule, it becomes the duty of this court to disregard it. The plaintiff in error, having a right to have the erroneous judgment reversed, must also have the right to have the only legal proceedings, which could be had consistently with the act of Congress, examined to show that error. ”

“ Has it ever been supposed that into a suit between citizens of different States a third party not competent to sue or be sued, could come or be brought, because he was a necessary party, without whose presence a decree could not be made? Has the doctrine ever been advanced, that when the constitution gave jurisdiction over suits between citizens of different States, it thereby, by implication, authorized that jurisdiction to be extended so as to embrace every person whose rights were so involved in the controversy that the principles of natural justice required him to be heard? ”

“ It remains true, notwithstanding the act of congress and the 47th rule, that a circuit court can make no decree affecting the rights of an absent person, and can make no decree between the parties before it, which so far involves or depends upon the rights of an absent person, that complete and final justice cannot be done between the parties to the suit without affecting those rights. ”

“ But in the event that the Supreme Court of Justice finds that the points of law or points of fact according to an appeal or final appeal would not be material to the extent deserving consideration, the Supreme Court of Justice has the power to refuse to admit the case for trial and adjudication ”

“ If, therefore, the present suit had been brought against the four sureties only, and they had omitted to take the exception by a plea in abatement, the judgment in this case would have been unimpeachable. Is the legal predicament of the plaintiffs changed, by having sued all the parties, and subsequently, entered a nolle prosequi, against one of the obligors? If not in general, then, is there any legal difference, where the party in whose favour the nolle prosequi is entered, is not a surety, but a principal in the bond? ”

“ Res judicata, by virtue of a judgment in some prior civil proceeding, where different constitutional guaranties relating to the mode and course of trial have play, has not done duty heretofore to replace either proof of facts before a jury or decision of constitutional questions necessary to make up the sum of guilt in the criminal proceeding itself. Congress can invade the judicial function in criminal cases no more by compelling the court to dispense with proof, jury trial or other constitutionally required characteristics than it can by denying all effect of finality to judicial judgments. ”

“ Amicus observes that probation is “now a critical tool of law enforcement in low level cases.” Id., at 22. Even so, it does not follow that preservation of that tool warrants the reduction of the Sixth Amendment’s domain that would result from the regime amicus hypothesizes. Amicus does not describe the contours of the hearing that, he suggests, might precede revocation of a term of probation imposed on an uncounseled defendant. ”

“ Under the thirteenth section of the judiciary act of 1789, the Supreme Court has 'power to issue writs of mandamus, in cases warranted by the principles and usages of law, to any courts appointed or persons holding office under the United States.' The power of the Circuit Courts to issue the writ of mandamus is confined exclusively to those cases in which it may be necessary to the exercise of their jurisdiction. ”