Policies and Procedures for Considering Amicus Brief Requests

Approved by AHA Council, January 2020

The AHA may consider requests for endorsing amicus briefs that coincide with the AHA’s Guiding Principles for Taking a Public Stance. Such requests may be submitted by members of the Association, litigants, or other scholarly associations.

In assessing the briefs, the Association will take into account the relevance to the AHA’s guiding principles, the nature and quality of historical scholarship included in the brief, the relevance of the case to major historical issues and/or the work of historians, and the significance of the subject being litigated. Any brief submitted must be in virtually final form for the AHA to consider endorsing it. It should be submitted sufficiently in advance of the filing deadline to allow adequate time for review. A vote of the Council (or in exigent circumstances, the Executive Committee) will be required to endorse an amicus brief.