In remarking that former Justice Frank Murphy is thought by many to have been gay, Milbarge pointed me to Courting Justice: Gay Men and Lesbians v. the Supreme Court. Usually I find Amazon.com reviews to be somewhat superficial, but this one actually made me want to check the book out. The concluding sentence is particularly good:

I kept thinking of Dorothy and her friends petitioning the Wizard: Their firm belief that he would do right by them, their fear and awe before his mysterious majesty, their rage and grief when he welshed on his promise, and, finally, their astonishment to learn that the great and mighty Oz, who had the last say in the highest tribunal in the land, was really just a man, with the same capacity for both ignorance and enlightenment as the rest of us.

I think this is true not only for gays and lesbians before the Court, but for most petitioners who see this as their last resort. Of course, when they lose many pick themselves back up and start looking for another way to get what they want (have you signed the Eldred petition?).