Doctoral Dissertation Research: Legal Strategies by Social Movement Organizations

长期以来，社会运动在美国民主中发挥着至关重要的作用。评论人士经常将法院描述为社会变革的引擎，整个政治领域的社会运动都成功地利用诉讼来影响法律和政策。但是，对于法院是否是社会变革的有效推动者的所有关注，很少有关于社会运动组织如何首先选择法律目标的研究。通过阐明法律组织如何与更广泛的社会运动相互作用，这项研究将有助于解释法律组织在美国民主中的作用。这个项目解决了两个研究问题。(1)不同的法律组织如何制定具体的法律目标和战略？(2)法律策略如何随时间变化？通过比较不同的组织，本研究确定了组织在决定如何应对不断变化的法律环境方面发挥的关键作用。合法组织发展出一种组织身份，它定义了谁参与组织，组织做什么，以及外部人员如何看待组织。本研究表明，这些组织身份指导法律策略的决策。当面临多种潜在战略时，组织会选择最符合其更广泛目标的战略。然而，这些更广泛的目标和组织身份有时也会发生巨大变化。本研究考察了法律背景和反作用力如何影响更广泛的组织目标和具体的法律策略之间的这种关系。将采用多种方法来比较四个法律组织。数据将包括：(1)每个组织的历史研究，重点是组织如何采用特定目标；（二）与各机构律师面谈；(3)与各机构的客户进行面谈；(4)与反对各组织的律师面谈；(5)对每个组织的捐助者进行调查。由于诉讼在社会和政治变革中发挥的核心作用，本研究提供了对美国政治制度更广泛功能的洞察。

Social movements have long played a crucial role in American democracy. Commentators frequently describe courts as the engine of social change, and social movements all along the political spectrum have successfully used litigation to impact law and policy. But for all the focus on whether courts are effective agents of social change, there is little research on how social movement organizations choose legal goals in the first place. By shedding light on how legal organizations interact with broader social movements, this research will help explain the role of legal organizations in American democracy.This project addresses two research questions. (1) How do different legal organizations develop specific legal goals and strategies? (2) How do legal strategies change over time? By comparing different organizations, this research identifies the key role organizations play in deciding how to respond to a changing legal context.Legal organizations develop an organizational identity that defines who is involved in the organization, what the organization does, and how outsiders perceive the organization. This research demonstrates that these organizational identities guide decisions on legal strategies. When faced with multiple potential strategies, organizations choose strategies most consistent with their broader goals. However, these broader goals and organizational identities can also sometimes change dramatically. This research examines how the legal context and countermovements impact this relationship between broader organizational goals and specific legal strategies.A multi method approach will be used to compare four legal organizations. Data will include: (1) historical studies of each organization, focusing on how organizations come to adopt specific goals; (2) interviews with lawyers at each organization; (3) interviews with clients of each organization; (4) interviews with lawyers opposing each organization; and (5) surveys of donors to each organization.Because of the central role litigation plays in social and political change, this research provides insight into the broader functions of the American political system.