My impression as a non-expert is that the impact of adding a single high-profile name to an amicus curiae brief is negligible. The amicus brief in question was organized by a group called Protect Democracy. One can only assume that if Turner hadn’t asked Dean, the same document would be prepared but without Dean’s name on it. Judge Lin’s preliminary injunction order in the NorCal case collectively acknowledges the various pro-Anthropic amici a few times (“Several amicus briefs detail the chilling effect”, “Several amicus briefs support this conclusion”), but there’s no indication that she thought anything like, “Well, if Jeff Dean thinks the government is wrong …” (as of course she shouldn’t!).
The summaryjudgement doesn’t cite Dean in particular but does cite the amicus brief and number of signers twice (search for “176”). Seems like Jeff Dean’s name may not matter much but raising the # of signers by 30% might have?
Yes, the same document would have been prepared. I further add that I was responsible for about half of the 18 GDM signatures, and the senior signatures (some directors and Jeff) were all my counterfactual.
I’ve been following the NorCal case closely. (There’s a separate case in the D.C. Circuit under a different statute.)
My impression as a non-expert is that the impact of adding a single high-profile name to an amicus curiae brief is negligible. The amicus brief in question was organized by a group called Protect Democracy. One can only assume that if Turner hadn’t asked Dean, the same document would be prepared but without Dean’s name on it. Judge Lin’s preliminary injunction order in the NorCal case collectively acknowledges the various pro-Anthropic amici a few times (“Several amicus briefs detail the chilling effect”, “Several amicus briefs support this conclusion”), but there’s no indication that she thought anything like, “Well, if Jeff Dean thinks the government is wrong …” (as of course she shouldn’t!).
The summary judgement doesn’t cite Dean in particular but does cite the amicus brief and number of signers twice (search for “176”). Seems like Jeff Dean’s name may not matter much but raising the # of signers by 30% might have?
Yes, the same document would have been prepared. I further add that I was responsible for about half of the 18 GDM signatures, and the senior signatures (some directors and Jeff) were all my counterfactual.