Abstract
Do justices follow Solicitor General recommendations even when they dislike them on policy and legal grounds? We employ archival data and a unique research design which allows us to examine SG influence directly. Our results could not be clearer. We find, first, that Solicitors General strongly influence Supreme Court justices. Even when a justice's prior legal and policy beliefs conflict with the SG's recommendation, she will nevertheless follow that recommendation in a substantial number of cases. Second, we find that Solicitors General cannot favor policy at the expense of law. Justices of all ideological persuasions - even those who are ideologically proximate to the SG - are between 25% and 34% less likely to follow the SG's recommendations when those recommendations contradict the weight of the law. In short, Solicitors General influence Supreme Court justices, but their influence is mitigated by legal considerations.
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