Amicus Briefs

Americans for Prosperity and Americans for Prosperity Foundation frequently write amicus curiae briefs to support other litigants and present important issues to courts. Please contact us at amicus@afphq.org if you would like amicus support for your case.

Year

Issue Area

Court

2025
Aaron Richards et al. v. Administration for Children’s Services
Question Presented

Does a family court order, which authorizes Child Services to enter and search an innocent motherโ€™s home and supervise her parenting, violate the motherโ€™s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches?

2025
Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond
Question Presented

1. Whether the academic and pedagogical choices of a privately owned and run school constitute state action simply because it contracts with the state to offer a free educational option for interested students.
2. Whether a state violates the Free Exercise Clause by excluding privately run religious schools from the stateโ€™s charter-school program solely because the schools are religious, or whether a state can justify such an exclusion by invoking anti-establishment interests that go further than the Establishment Clause requires.

2025
Mahmoud v. Taylor
Question Presented

Whether public schools burden parentsโ€™ religious exercise when they compel elementary school children to participate in instruction on gender and sexuality against their parentsโ€™ religious convictions and without notice or opportunity to opt out.

2025
Texas Top Cop Shop v. Bondi
Question Presented

Whether the Corporate Transparency Act exceeds constitutional limits on the federal governmentโ€™s powers.

2025
First Choice v. Platkin
Question Presented

Where the subject of a state investigatory demand has established a reasonably objective chill of its First Amendment rights, is a federal court in a first-filed action deprived of jurisdiction because those rights must be adjudicated in state court.

2025
FCC v. Consumersโ€™ Research
Question Presented

Whether 47 U.S.C. ยง 254 violates the nondelegation doctrine by imposing no objective limit on the revenue to be raised for the Universal Service Fund. 2. Whether the FCC violates the private nondelegation doctrine by transferring its revenue raising power to the Universal Service Administrative Company, a private company run by industry interest groups. 3. Whether the combination of those two delegations violates the nondelegation doctrine. Whether this case is moot in light of the challengersโ€™ failure to seek preliminary relief before the Fifth Circuit.

2025
Jakeโ€™s Fireworks v. CPSC
Question Presented

Whether judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act for CPSC notices of violation is unavailable until the agency further acts through formal enforcement.

2025
Lesh v. United States
Question Presented

Whether the Constitutionโ€™s dual guarantee of trial by jury contains an unstated exception for โ€œpetty offenses.โ€

2024
Salaam v. Trump
Question Presented

2024
McNutt v. U.S. Department of Justice
Question Presented

Whether a federal ban on at-home distilling of spiritsโ€”even for personal useโ€”exceeds constitutional limits on the federal governmentโ€™s powers.

2024
Texas Top Cop Shop v. Garland
Question Presented

Whether the Corporate Transparency Act exceeds constitutional limits on the federal governmentโ€™s powers.

2024
L.M. v. MiddleBorough
Question Presented

What legal standard is applicable to a studentโ€™s untargeted ideological speech that promotes a viewpoint different from the schoolโ€™s preferred viewpoint.

Amicus Commentary

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New York Appellate Court Strikes Down A State Practice Allowing Intrusive Surveillance Of Innocent Families

In a significant win for the liberty interests of parents in the care and custody of their children, yesterday a New York appellate court vacated and held unlawful a longstanding state practice that subjected parents who were never accused of any wrongdoing to ongoing supervision by local child services officers.  That supervision allowed state authorities…

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D.C. Circuit Rules โ€œClawbackโ€ Orders Foreclosed by the FOIAย 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit released a noteworthy decision today in Human Rights Defense Center v. U.S. Park Police, a Freedom of Information Act (โ€œFOIAโ€) case in which the federal government sought a court order requiring the return or destruction of โ€œinadvertently disclosedโ€ records.  Such relief is commonly known…

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NetChoice and the โ€œInformational Interestโ€: Can the Government Ensure You Listen to the Right Message?

The Supreme Courtโ€™s decision in NetChoice v. Moody, the much-anticipated challenge to Texasโ€™s regulation of social media companies, was not the barnburner many had anticipated. Instead of deciding the First Amendment question directly, the Court found that neither lower court did the proper facial analysis, meaning they must not only find a First Amendment violation…

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Americans for Prosperity Foundation releases summary of engagement for Supreme Court October 2023 term

Arlington, VAโ€ฏโ€“ Americans for Prosperity Foundation today released a report of its amicus engagement during the October 2023 Supreme Court term.โ€ฏ AFPF Chief Policy Counsel James Valvo said: This term the Supreme Court upheld protections for free expression, ruling the government cannot coerce companies to stop doing business with organizations based on their speech. The…

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Have you heard of these cases before the Supreme Court? Hereโ€™s why they should matter to you

UPDATE: On 5/30/2024, in a win for the First Amendment, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in NRA v. Vullo that government officials cannot pressure or otherwise coerce organizations to terminate certain business relationships when doing so infringes the First Amendment rights of the third party. This Supreme Court term has been full of high-profile cases.…

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Congress, not bureaucrats, should make federal criminal law

By Michael Pepson Would it surprise you to know that Congress has granted the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) unfettered power to write its own criminal code governing one-tenth of the land in the United States? A Nevada federal court ruled that Congress unconstitutionally transferred its legislative power to write crimes to the BLM. Last…

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Freelancing or free speech? Californiaโ€™s AB5 gets speaking professionals coming and going

Threats to free speech can be veiled as restrictions on economic activity. Californiaโ€™s AB5 is the latest example. Many people who donโ€™t prefer traditional office environments have benefited from independent contracting. From freelance photographers to truckers to massage therapists, workers can find freedom in setting their own hours and being their own boss. California took…

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Censorship by stealth: Can government officials censor speech by pressuring third parties to do it for them?

For this newsletter, Iโ€™m delighted to have Cindy Crawford, AFPF Senior Policy Counsel, take over to discuss censorship by stealth and two upcoming cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. โ€“ Casey UPDATE: On 5/30/2024, in a win for the First Amendment, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in NRA v. Vullo that government officials…

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