While I away on vacation, there was a lot of discussion of the party presentation rule in the Supreme Court. I wanted to make one point about that. Here is the start of Rule 37 (Supreme Court Rules):
An amicus curiae brief that brings to the attention of the Court relevant matter not already brought to its attention by the parties may be of considerable help to the Court.
Rule 37 contemplates that matter not presented by the parties may be helpful to the Court. I find that hard to reconcile with a strict party presentation principle. Of course, the Court is free to ignore unhelpful amici briefs. But helpful material should be embraced no matter the source so long as a brief is properly filed.