In our article on amicus briefs in the first volume of the Appellate Advocacy Symposium, we discussed the importance of amicus briefs and what makes them useful to courts. We explained that, although some amicus briefs are merely “me too” briefs and, as such, add little insight, others can “be very valuable in highlighting for the Court that people or organizations in the State other than the litigants themselves view the case as one requiring a decision . . . .”
However, it is rightly said that an ounce of practice is worth a pound of precept. With that in mind, we offer this short reflection on an actual amicus brief filed published in the United States Supreme Court cases Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger after our article was published. We believe the amicus brief provided by high-ranking individuals of the military well exemplifies what an amicus brief can and should be.