Networks of Collective Practice: Communication Among Notable Conservative Lawyers.

Do networks structure policy-event participation in forums where laws are made? To address this question, this paper investigates patterns of joint participation in cases before the Supreme Court of the United States among pairs of notable conservative lawyers. Using a sample of 26 prominent lawyers working for non-profit conservative organizations, we employ network regression models to examine the determinants of joint participation in legal cases before the Supreme Court. We test several explanations for similarity in political behavior, including shared issue interests, joint activation in prior litigation, shared organizational affiliations, and structural equivalence in communication networks. Results show that two factors - joint activation in prior litigation and structural equivalence - are associated with isomorphic patterns of political behavior. These findings indicate that political activation before the Supreme Court reflects shared interests in specific legal issues as well as structural positions in a political community. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]