Litigation as a Form of Pressure Group Activity

• Author: Clement E. Vose
• Published date: 01 September 1958
• Date: 01 September 1958
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271625831900104
• Subject Matter: Articles

20

Litigation

as

a

Form

of

Pressure

Group

Activity

By

CLEMENT

E.

VOSE

Clement

E.

Vose,

Ph.D.,

Middletown,

Connecticut,

is

Associate

Professor

of

Govern-

ment,

Wesleyan

University.

Formerly

he

has

taught

at

Beloit

College,

Western

Reserve

University,

and

Bowdoin

College.

He

is

Senior

Fellow

in

the

Yale

Law

School

under

a

grant

from

the

Rockefeller

Foundation

(1958-59).

His

book,

Caucasians

Only:

The

Supreme

Court,

the

NAACP

and

the

Restrictive

Covenant

Cases,

is

being

published

next

spring

by

the

University

of

California

Press.

ABSTRACT:

The

important

place

of

judicial

review

in

the

American

system

of

government

and

the

attention

demanded

by

litigation

dealing

with

large

issues

of

public

law

have

drawn

organizations

into

many

important

court

cases.

In

Supreme

Court

cases,

organizations

have

participated

openly

by

filing

briefs

as

"friend

of

the

court."

They

have

also

played

a

less

noticed

role

either

by

aiding

individuals

in

whose

name

"test

cases"

have

been

brought

or

by

providing

assistance

to

govern-

ment

attorneys

defending

a

statute

in

which

the

organization

has

an

interest.

Particular

attention

is

drawn

to

the

activities

of

the

American

Liberty

League,

the

National

Consumers’

League,

and

the

National

Association

for

the

Advancement

of

Colored

People.

The

practices

of

these

and

other

organiza-

tions

have

led

to

controls

designed

to

assure

the

integrity

of

the

judicial

process.

It

is

contended

that

controls

must

be

applied

with

caution

lest

there

be

interference

with

freedom

of

associa-

tion

and

with

the

concomitant

rights

of

access

to

the

courts.