The Importance of Interest Group Involvement in Employment Discrimination Litigation

Published in 1982. In Howard Law Journal 23 (4): 301-321. (Revised version of a paper delivered at the 1981 meeting of the Law & Society Association.)

Karen O'Connor
Lee Epstein

Since enactment of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employment discrimination litigation has been utilized by many interest groups and organizations as a means by which to secure their often widely divergent goals and objectives. Most studies of employment discrimination litigation focus on the cases themselves, their legal aspects, or their ramifications for further litigation or policy-making. Here we examine the extent of interest group participation in fifty-two employment discrimination cases and the impact of that involvement.

Click here for the article (.pdf).
Click here for the conference paper.