The elusive influence of the advocate general on the Court of Justice : the case of European citizenship

Abstract

How much influence does the Advocate General (AG) have on the Court? What factors does her influence depend on? To answer these questions, we develop a model of AG influence, distinguishing between implicit and explicit influence, and apply the model to EU citizenship case law. We show, first, that two personal characteristics of the AG, career background and seniority, sway the Court to adopt the reasoning and the solution proposed in the opinion. Second, AG influence varies with Court composition: whereas resilient against many institutional and personal factors, the AsG will have less influence on the Grand Chamber. Against this backdrop we argue that AG influence (immediate and delayed) depends mostly on personal features of individual AsG with established reputations but is at the same time limited by institutional factors and the context of judicial decision making.