INTEREST GROUPS AND LITIGATION
Interest groups engaged in litigation are faced with questions of litigation strategy and of allocation of resources. Planned constitutional litigation, part of mobilization of the law, is problematic, as is the choice of forum in which the litigation is brought. Litigation by interest groups is affected by the political environment, including judicial rulings; the complexity of litigation itself; inter-organizational relations; and, most importantly, a series of intra-organizational factors. The latter include control of litigation, group longevity, relations between lawyers and organization, and organizational structure. These elements of interest group litigation are explored in this article.
Judicial Agenda Setting Through Signaling and Strategic Litigant Responses
We show that when justices hand down decisions that provide signals – indications of their priorities and preferences – policy entrepreneurs bring well crafted cases in those policy areas, resulting in a transformation of the Supreme Court’s agenda. The implications are twofold: 1) Supreme Court justices can summon cases onto their agenda, well before the certiorari process begins, by informally communicating their priorities and preferences to potential litigants, and 2) Supreme Court justices are dependent on extrajudicial actors for access to a sufficient number of well framed cases to make comprehensive policy in areas that they consider priorities.
Influence of inducers and inhibitors on the metabolism in vitro and neurochemical effects in vivo of MDMA.
(S)-(+)- and (R)-(-)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) were metabolized in vitro by rat liver microsomes via N-demethylation to 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA). Whereas no difference was found in the biotransformation of the two enantiomers in the male rat or in the phenobarbital (PB) treated animals of either sex, more than twice as much MDA was formed from (S)-(+)- than from (R)-(-)-MDMA in the untreated female rat. Although 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC) pretreated rat liver microsomes were less active than those from the untreated rats of the same sex, they formed more MDA from (+)- than from (-)-MDMA. The enantioselective metabolism thus appears to be associated with the relative abundance of individual cytochrome P-450 isozymes. (S)-(+)- and (R)-(-)-MDMA.HCl (20 mg/kg) were about equipotent in depleting serotonin (5-HT) levels in the frontal cortex at 3 hrs and 1 wk following oral administration to female rats. Pretreatment of rats with SKF-525A attenuated and that with PB enhanced the 5-HT depleting potential of either isomer at 3 hrs. The 5-HT depleting potency of (+)-MDMA was significantly greater than that of its (-)-antipode at 3 hr in PB pretreated, but not in SKF-525A pretreated animals. The results suggest that the neurochemical effects of MDMA are caused by the formation of an active metabolite in vivo, and since both enantiomers were N-demethylated in vitro to approximately the same extent by PB pretreated rat liver microsomes, the active metabolite may be other than MDA.