SCOTUS backs off disclosure rule for amicus curiae

SCOTUS had proposed a new rule that would have had the effect of requiring amicus filers to disclose if parties or their counsel were members of the amicus group or had helped finance the brief. The aim was to prevent parties to get two bites at the apple -- one, a brief filed by the party itself and the second, a brief filed by an amicus group but written or financed by the party. But, according to Law.com, amicus groups across the spectrum protested that the rule would invade the cherished privacy of their membership rosters. Former members of the solicitor general's office also protested that the rule as written originally would have required government lawyers to reveal, for example, whether they paid dues to the American Civil Liberties Union or the National Rifle Association.