Supreme Court Assistance Project
The Alan Morrison Supreme Court Assistance Project offers pro bono legal assistance at the petition stage, helping both to oppose petitions for certiorari to protect public interest victories in lower courts and to file petitions for certiorari asking the Supreme Court for review of important legal questions. We also frequently provide assistance in public interest cases at the merits stage, helping to draft briefs and conducting moot courts.
Read our July 2023 Project Report Donate to the Supreme Court Assistance Project
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About Our Project
Our Project began in 1990, when Public Citizen Litigation Group’s founder Alan Morrison envisioned a public interest group that could serve as an equalizer in Supreme Court cases, a counterweight to the expertise of the elite private and government lawyers who specialize in Supreme Court practice and often represent clients opposing consumer interests and public interests before the Court. Alan’s idea was to mobilize the Public Citizen’s Supreme Court experience and expertise in a systematic way to assist lawyers in preventing the Court from taking cases that it should not take and in winning cases that the Court does take. The Supreme Court Assistance Project is the result of his vision.
Since the Project’s founding, our attorneys have drafted hundreds of oppositions to petitions for certiorari and advised attorneys on hundreds of additional oppositions, scoring quiet victories by helping attorneys who prevailed below to keep their cases out of the Supreme Court. From drafting a brief to providing feedback or answering questions about procedure, we help trial lawyers, public interest attorneys, and others with little Supreme Court experience navigate the cert-stage process.
Guide to Opposing Cert. Guide to Petitioning
Public Citizen attorneys have argued 66 cases before the Supreme Court and served as lead or co-counsel in scores more.
See our Supreme Court Case Chronology
Bringing decades of Supreme Court experience, the Project often provides assistance in cases concerning access to the civil justice system or claims of government misconduct, and in cases in which employees, civil rights claimants, or tort plaintiffs have won significant awards or established important precedents.
If you have a case that may be headed to the Supreme Court and would like assistance, please contact us.