Our Amicus Project
The Advancing Public Health & Health Equity in the Courts (“Amicus”) project is an initiative of Public Health Law Watch, which is housed at Northeastern University School of Law’s Center for Health Policy & Law.
Please find project updates and our Amicus briefs below.
Project Updates
Fall 2026 Updates:
The Amicus Project had a great time at the Health Law Professors Conference in Atlanta, GA earlier this summer – getting to connect with old colleagues and friends and make many new connections! Our session was “Strengthening Public Health Litigation Through Amicus Briefs,” where we presented on the work of the Amicus project and called attendees to the table to both join the George Consortium and partner with us on future cases to ensure public health and scientific perspectives are accurately presented to the courts.
On June 25th, the Amicus Project partnered with ChangeLab Solutions to host Shaping Public Health in the Courts: The Role of Amicus Briefs and Cross-Sector Partnerships – a webinar exploring how litigation, and amicus briefs in particular, can be used to advance – and in this current political climate – protect, public health. The interest in this topic was strong, with 481 people registered, and over 200 joining live – representing 176 different organizations. Professor Wendy Parmet was a speaker for the panel on this webinar, where she was joined by Susan Polan at the American Public Health Association and Gregg Gonsalves at Defend Public Health.
On July 23, PHLW’s Amicus Project filed their third brief in AAP v. Kennedy on behalf of Defend Public Health. This brief focused on the expertise of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and why that expertise matters in the context of federal changes to the childhood vaccine schedule. We have many people to thank for making this happen: authors Dorit Reiss, Wendy Parmet, and Shannon Rempe; our students, Lillian Jangala and Evan Popp; our colleagues at Defend Public Health; Hiya Kishore and Ally Crays with GW’s Amicus & Public Comments Project; and, our pro bono partners at Nelson and Mullins.
The Project has also been focused on expanding its cross-sector partnerships with an eye towards the hybrid convening they will be hosting this October. The purpose of this convening centers on what the panelists discussed in the June webinar – the importance of fostering partnerships across public health disciplines prior to the cases coming up that need our involvement.
The Amicus Project is always looking to partner with other public health lawyers, professionals and community-based advocates to find collaborative pathways to advance this work. So, if you’re tracking a state or local case that impacts public health or health equity, if you know an attorney or public health expert willing to work with us, or if you just want to be part of the network we’re building, please fill out this form (password: amicus).
This project aims to ensure public health and scientific perspectives are presented to the courts through amicus briefs. To do this, the project tracks active litigation impacting public health and partners with public health experts and outside counsel to collaborate on specific cases.