Brown v. Board stimulated later education litigation by signaling receptive courts.

Evidence

Brown v. Board of Education was crucial in stimulating school finance litigation, because it focused attention on the detrimental effects of inequalities in education, prompting critical scrutiny of the impact of other forms of educational inequality. Brown also signaled the justices’ willingness to use the equal protection clause to combat inequalities, encouraging potential litigants to believe that they would have a forum receptive to their claims. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3277

Categorization

• XREF: Classic account of how precedent functions as a signal that shapes litigant strategy and the supply of cases.