On February 14, 2025, the National Women’s Law Center joined NAACP LDF and five other civil rights organizations in filing a comment regarding proposed changes to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 29, which governs amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs. For over forty years, NWLC has routinely filed amicus curiae briefs in cases involving gender-justice issues in state and federal courts across the United States–these briefs are a critical way for civil rights organizations to communicate with the courts about the development of the law. Among the proposals the Advisory Committee is considering are several language changes aimed at trying to ensure that amicus briefs are not unduly repetitive of what the parties to the case have said. While these proposals are well intended, they would force amici curiae into navigating an extremely fine line between not hewing close enough to the parties’ arguments—which is itself grounds for rejection—and being too repetitive. In our letter, we urged the Committee not to adopt these proposals because they would make participation as amicus curiae much more difficult and would not likely result in more helpful case briefing for the courts. Read the full comment here.