By State and Local Legal Center Executive Director Lisa Soronen
February 13, 2012

Since 1983, the State and Local Legal Center (SLLC) has filed amicus curiae briefs to the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the “Big Seven” national organizations representing the interests of state and local government, including The U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The SLLC files an amicus brief in a Supreme Court case as long as three of the seven members of the SLLC want a brief written and two organizations do not veto participation. Each SLLC member decides whether to sign onto an SLLC brief after reviewing its contents. To date, the SLLC has filed over 300 Supreme Court briefs. The SLLC also offers moot courts to attorneys arguing state and local government cases before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court frequently hears cases affecting local government. In many of these cases a city is a named party. Since October 2011 the SLLC has filed amicus briefs, which The U.S. Conference of Mayors has signed onto, in the following three cases.

The issue in Filarsky v. Delia is whether a law firm attorney hired by a city to conduct an internal affairs investigation can be sued for violating someone’s constitutional rights, even if the law firm attorney could not be sued if he or she was the city’s in-house counsel.

The issue in Reichle v. Howards is whether a person arrested based on probable cause can bring a lawsuit claiming he or she was arrested in retaliation for asserting his or her First Amendment rights.

This issue in Armour v. Indianapolis is whether the Equal Protection Clause prohibits a city from refusing to refund payments made by taxpayers who have paid their assessments in full, while forgiving the obligations of identically situated taxpayers who chose to pay over a multi-year installment plan.

To learn more about the SLLC and to read the briefs the SLLC filed in these three cases, visit the SLLC’s website at http://www.statelocallc.org/.