8.4: Interest Group Tactics

The main tool interest groups use to influence public policy is lobbying. Many hire registered lobbyists to contact members of Congress and persuade them to cast votes, sponsor bills, or make speeches favorable to their groups’ interests. This involves providing members of Congress with information about issues they consider important. Congress relies heavily on interest groups for such information, though each interest group focuses on information that supports its viewpoint. Sometimes interest groups even write whole bills and present them to senators or representatives, hoping they will formally introduce those bills into Congress.

Lobbying has a negative reputation. Lobbyists are often thought of as sleazy political operators, willing to bribe politicians to change their minds and break promises they made to their constituents. This caricature is unfair in a few ways. First, lobbyists must abide by complex and strict laws that prohibit outright bribery (though some do get caught breaking these laws). Second, rather than try to change minds, lobbyists prefer to seek out politicians who already agree with them on key issues and then persuade them to act on those issues. Finally, though some lobbyists lobby politicians to act against their constituents’ interests, others lobby from the other side to remember the wants and needs of the voters who elected them.

Besides contacting politicians through hired lobbyists, interest groups can do so through average citizens. This practice, called grassroots lobbying, involves encouraging a politician’s constituents to write letters, make phone calls, or send emails to voice their opinions and demand action. An effective grassroots lobbying campaign can swamp a congressional office with messages of anger or concern, showing that constituents are paying attention to an issue. (Protests, rallies, and demonstrations organized by interest groups can also be considered forms of grassroots lobbying.) If you’ve ever been urged to write to your representative or call your senator, you’ve experienced a grassroots lobbying appeal.

Lobbying is not confined to the legislative branch. Courts also experience pressure from interest groups via amicus curiae briefs. If an interest group is not directly involved in a court case but cares about the outcome of that case, it can submit a brief to the judges as an amicus curiae (Latin for “friend of the court”). As with lobbying legislators, the purpose of amicus briefs is to persuade government officials—in this case, judges—to act a certain way. Some high-profile cases involve hundreds of amicus briefs from concerned interest groups or individual citizens.