Law360, New York ( June 8, 2016, 3:33 PM EDT) -- A nagging doubt haunts those who file amicus briefs: Once the brief enters the black hole of the appellate court, will its arguments receive serious consideration? Indeed, will anyone even read the brief? Only a minority of appellate opinions cite amicus briefs, so it is hard to determine whether an amicus brief had an impact. Some reassurance comes from a survey of 70 former U.S. Supreme Court law clerks who screened amicus briefs for the justices.[1] Nearly all of them (83 percent) reported that they looked at every single amicus brief filed.[2] However, some briefs were only briefly skimmed, while the clerks carefully read other briefs that appeared to contribute new and useful information or arguments.[3] One former law clerk revealed that "[a]fter six months I could read amicus briefs in sixty seconds; I could make judgments as to their usefulness and dispose of them. Others were read more seriously."[4]...