Litigation campaigns are less systematic than hindsight suggests.

Evidence

The series of cases leading to Brown may resemble a carefully plotted campaign, with central direction on the course and pace of litigation. So other groups—for example, women’s groups and environmental groups—looked to these cases for a model of how to pursue policy ends through the courts. But the Legal Defense Fund’s campaign was less systematic than hindsight may suggest. Although the aim of eliminating racial subordination never changed, the Legal Defense Fund litigated cases in a variety of fields, often attacking targets of opportunity rather than pursuing a long-term plan. As favorable precedents accumulated in school cases, the Legal Defense Fund decided to concentrate more attention on school desegregation. As Mark Tushnet observed, “If the military metaphor referring to a litigation campaign is helpful, the campaign was conducted on a terrain that repeatedly required changes in maneuvers.”” — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2962

Categorization

• DEFINE: Challenges the ‘carefully plotted campaign’ depiction of Brown-era litigation.
• SEED: Article angle: debunking the myth of master-planned test-case litigation as a policy blueprint for other movements.