Grant Awarded: Amici and the Courts: A Case Study of the Research Use Process of Intermediary Actors

April 29, 2014

Dr. Patricia Marin, Assistant Professor, recently received a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation along with Catherin Horn (University of Houston), Liliana Garces (Pennsylvania State University) and Karen Miksch (University of Minnesota).  The grant time frame is July 2014 – June 2016.

Amici and the Courts: A Case Study of the Research Use Process of Intermediary Actors

Amici—friends of the court—serve as important intermediaries in the court system and frequently use research when developing briefs. Marin, Horn, Garces, and Miksch will examine the various ways in which research is used by amici in the Fisher v. University of Texas affirmative action case. Fisher was initially filed in federal district court, ultimately appealed to the Supreme Court, and remanded back to the Fifth Circuit for further consideration. A range of organizations filed briefs, including government entities, colleges and universities, businesses, and individuals. Marin and colleagues will examine how these various parties engaged with research when preparing their briefs. The research team will also analyze, using social network analysis complemented with latent class analysis, how the connections between researchers and the organizations generating the briefs influence the acquisition of research as well as how it was interpreted and used.

The project will adopt a mixed-methods approach to better understand the degree to which research evidence and connections with researchers influenced the decisions of amici and the courts. The investigators will review court documents, including court opinions and transcripts of oral arguments; survey researchers; and conduct interviews with counsels of record and other key decision makers to understand how research was used throughout the legal process.

For more information:  http://www.wtgrantfoundation.org/news/grant_announcements/spring-2014-research-grants-and-distinguished-fellows