“…In fact, most recent work identifies that amicus briefs are submitted in approximately 90% of cases before the Court (Simpson & Vasaly, 2015), up from only 71% between 1980 and 1991. Studies over the last 30 years of amicus briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court have focused on issues of impact, generating mixed conclusions as to their effectiveness (e.g., Caldeira & Wright, 1988, 1990Collins, 2004Collins, , 2007Collins, , 2008Collins, Corley, & Hamner, 2015;Larsen, 2014;Songer & Sheehan, 1993;Wofford, 2015), as well as strategies for making them effective (e.g., Ennis, 1984;Grisso & Saks, 1991;Lynch, 2004;Melton, 1987;Morgan & Pullin, 2010;Zuber, Somer, & Parent, 2015). According to Simpson and Vasaly (2015), however, "there is no doubt that the proliferation of amicus briefs is the result of their perceived impact on the Court's decisions" (p. 11) with evidence of such impact in cases such as Grutter v. Bollinger and Romer v. Evans.…”