Comment by lorddoig | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lorddoig | Hacker News Reader

Excuse me, non-American here, but a passage from an article linked within states[0]:

> The nine justices request that U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr., the government's top lawyer before the Supreme Court, weigh in on about 20 cases a year in which the federal government has a strong interest. The justices generally give greater weight to what he or she says than other third parties that take a side in a case, an influence which has caused the solicitor general to be dubbed the "tenth justice."

Question: what the fuck?

    [0]: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/15/google-oracle-lawsuit-idUSL1N0Y32YG20150515

> Question: what the fuck?

American here.

We are aware of the problem, but due to high call volume and a totally corrupt/captured/entrenched corporate & government bureaucracy, you may experience long wait times.

Third parties can generally file something called an "amicus brief" which is more or less "an opinion from a friend of the court."

The court takes this opinion into account, it's not that Oracle and Google aren't listened to, it's that the Federal government basically gets a chance to say what it thinks.

Note, they give more weight to the SG than other third parties, not -- at least per the given description -- more weight than actual litigants.

SG sometimes become supreme court justices. But more generally the lawyer a justice will hear from the most during any given period is most likely the current t SG.

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