Federalist Society

American conservative legal organization

Federalist Society

Society logo featuring a silhouette of James Madison

Formation| April 23, 1982; 42 years ago (1982-04-23)
Founded at| University of Chicago
Legal status| 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Purpose| Legal advocacy

Professional title

| Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Location|

* 1776 I Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20066, United States

Coordinates| 38°54′04″N 77°02′28″W﻿ / ﻿38.901°N 77.041°W﻿ / 38.901; -77.041

Membership

| ≈70,000 (2019)[1]

President

| Eugene B. Meyer[2]

Budget

| Revenue: $33,866,191
Expenses: $24,508,301
(FYE September 2022)[3]
Website| FedSoc.org
This article is part of a series on

Conservatism
in the United States

Schools

* Compassionate
* Fiscal
* Fusion
* Liberal
* Libertarian
* Moderate
* Movement
* Neo-
* Paleo-
* Postliberal
* Populist
* Progressive
* Social
* Straussian
* Traditionalist

Principles

* American exceptionalism
* American nationalism
* Anti-communism
* Christian nationalism
* Civil religion
* Classical liberalism
* Communitarianism
* Constitutionalism
* Culture of life
* Pro-life
* Familialism
* Family values
* Federalism
* States' rights
* Gender essentialism
* Complementarianism
* Judeo-Christian values
* Individualism
* Law and order
* Limited government
* Meritocracy
* Natural aristocracy
* Militarism
* Peace through strength
* Moral absolutism
* Natural law
* Ordered liberty
* Patriotism
* Property rights
* Republicanism
* Right to bear arms
* Rule of law
* Supply-side economics
* Tradition

History

* Loyalists
* Solid South
* New Humanism
* Southern Agrarians
* Old Right
* Conservative Manifesto
* Conservative coalition
* America First Committee
* McCarthyism
* Goldwater campaign
* New Right
* Southern strategy
* Reagan era
* Reagan Doctrine
* Reaganomics
* Redeemers
* Republican Revolution
* Tea Party movement

Intellectuals

* Adams
* Anton
* Babbitt
* Bacevich
* Baskerville
* Bell
* Bellow
* Berger
* Bloom
* Boorstin
* Buckley
* Burnham
* Calhoun
* Chambers
* Conquest
* Deneen
* Eastman
* Eberstadt
* Eliot
* Francis
* Genovese
* Gottfried
* Hanson
* Hazony
* Himmelfarb
* Hoppe
* Hurston
* Jaffa
* Kendall
* Kimball
* Kirk
* Kirkpatrick
* Kreeft
* Kristol
* Kuehnelt-Leddihn
* Lasch
* Lind
* Lovecraft
* Loury
* Lukacs
* Mansfield
* Mencken
* Meyer
* Molnar
* Murray
* Nisbet
* Ransom
* Rieff
* Santayana
* Schaeffer
* Sowell
* Strauss
* Viereck
* Voegelin
* Washington
* Weaver
* Weyl
* Wolfe

Politicians

* Adams (John)
* Adams (John Quincy)
* Bolton
* Buchanan
* Bush (George H. W.)
* Bush (George W.)
* Calhoun
* Cheney
* Clay
* Coolidge
* Cotton
* Cruz
* DeSantis
* Dirksen
* Gingrich
* Goldwater
* Hamilton
* Harding
* Hawley
* Helms
* Hoover
* Lincoln
* Lodge
* Luce
* McCain
* McCarthy
* McConnell
* Nixon
* Palin
* Paul (Rand)
* Paul (Ron)
* Pence
* Randolph
* Roosevelt
* Reagan
* Romney
* Rubio
* Rumsfeld
* Ryan
* Santorum
* Sherman
* Taft (Robert)
* Taft (William)
* Thurmond
* Trump
* Vance
* Wallace
* Wolfowitz

Jurists

* Alito
* Barrett
* Bork
* Burger
* Carl
* Colson
* George
* Goldsmith
* Gorsuch
* Graglia
* Harlan II
* Kavanaugh
* Kennedy
* Luttig
* O'Connor
* Parker
* Rehnquist
* Roberts
* Scalia
* Sessions
* Sutherland
* Taft
* Thomas
* Vermeule

Commentators

* Ahmari
* Beck
* Bongino
* Breitbart
* Buchanan
* Buckley
* Caldwell
* Carlson
* Chodorov
* Coulter
* D'Souza
* Derbyshire
* DiLorenzo
* Douthat
* Dreher
* Elder
* Fleming
* Goldberg
* Grant
* Griffin
* Van den Haag
* Hannity
* Hart
* Herberg
* Hoover
* Ingraham
* Jones
* Khachiyan
* Kirk
* Knowles
* Krauthammer
* Lahren
* Levin
* Limbaugh
* Mac Donald
* Metaxas
* Neuhaus
* Nekrasova
* Ngo
* North
* Novak
* O'Reilly
* Owens
* Podhoretz
* Pool
* Portnoy
* Prager
* Robertson
* Shapiro
* Stormer
* Sullivan
* Walsh
* Whittle
* Will
* Wintrich
* Woods

Activists

* Agostinelli
* Ahmanson Jr.
* Andreessen
* Atwater
* Bannon
* Bennett
* Bezmenov
* Bozell
* Cohn
* Coors
* Dans
* Dilling
* Dobson
* Drudge
* Falwell
* Feulner
* Gabriel
* Gaines
* Horowitz
* Krikorian
* Kirk
* Kristol
* LaHaye (Beverly)
* LaHaye (Tim)
* Lindbergh
* Leo
* McEntee
* Mellon Scaife
* Mercer (father)
* Mercer (daughter)
* Miller
* Murdoch
* Musk
* O'Keefe
* Owens
* Park
* Prager
* Reed
* Regnery
* Roberts
* Rove
* Rufo
* Rusher
* Schlafly (Andrew)
* Schlafly (Phyllis)
* Stone
* Starbuck
* Thiel
* Viguerie
* Thomas
* Washington
* Weyrich
* Wood
* Yenor

Literature

* The Federalist Papers (1788)
* Democracy in America (1835–1840)
* Democracy and Leadership (1924)
* Notes on Democracy (1926)
* I'll Take My Stand (1930)
* Our Enemy, the State (1935)
* The Managerial Revolution (1941)
* Ideas Have Consequences (1948)
* God and Man at Yale (1951)
* The Conservative Mind (1953)
* The Conscience of a Conservative (1960)
* A Choice Not an Echo (1964)
* Losing Ground (1984)
* A Conflict of Visions (1987)
* The Closing of the American Mind (1987)
* The Bell Curve (1994)
* The Revolt of the Elites (1995)
* The Death of the West (2001)
* Black Rednecks and White Liberals (2005)
* Hillbilly Elegy (2017)
* The Benedict Option (2017)
* Why Liberalism Failed (2018)

Concerns

* Abortion
* Cancel Culture
* Culture war
* Multiculturalism
* "Disparate impact" controversy
* CRT controversy
* DEI controversy
* Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
* Higher ed. bubble
* Go woke, go broke
* ESG
* "Woke capitalism"
* Homeschooling
* Illegal immigration
* and crime
* Border crisis
* Intelligence and public policy
* Legal theories
* Originalism
* Textualism
* Managerial state
* Sub-replacement fertility
* Unitary executive theory

Parties

Active

* American Party
* American Independent Party
* Conservative Party of New York State
* Constitution Party
* Republican Party

Defunct

* Anti-Masonic Party
* Constitutional Union Party
* Democratic Party (historically, factions)
* Boll weevils
* Conservative Democrats
* Dixiecrats
* Reagan Democrats
* Southern Democrats
* Rhode Island Suffrage Party
* Federalist Party
* National Republican Party
* Native American Party
* Whig Party

Think tanks

* Acton Institute
* Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
* American Enterprise Institute
* American Compass
* Center for Security Policy
* Center for the National Interest
* Charles Koch Institute
* Claremont Institute
* Competitive Enterprise Institute
* David Horowitz Freedom Center
* Ethics and Public Policy Center
* Family Research Institute
* Gatestone Institute
* Heartland Institute
* The Heritage Foundation
* Mandate for Leadership
* Project 2025
* Hoover Institution
* Hudson Institute
* Intercollegiate Studies Institute
* James Madison Program
* Leadership Institute
* Manhattan Institute
* Mises Institute
* Pacific Research Institute
* Project for the New American Century
* Ripon Society
* R Street Institute
* Rockford Institute
* State Policy Network
* Sutherland Institute
* Tax Foundation
* Witherspoon Institute

Media

Newspapers

* Chicago Tribune
* Dallas Morning News
* The Epoch Times
* New Hampshire Union Leader
* The Jewish Voice
* The New York Observer
* New York Post
* The Remnant
* The Spotlight
* The Wall Street Journal (editorial board)
* The Washington Times

Journals

* American Affairs
* The American Conservative
* The American Spectator
* American Thinker
* City Journal
* Claremont Review of Books
* Commentary
* Compact
* Chronicles
* The Dispatch
* First Things
* The Imaginative Conservative
* Jewish World Review
* Modern Age
* National Affairs
* The National Interest
* National Review
* Public Discourse
* Tablet
* Taki's Magazine
* Telos
* The New American
* The New Atlantis
* The New Criterion
* Policy Review (defunct)
* Spectator USA
* Southern Partisan
* Washington Examiner
* The Weekly Standard (defunct)

TV channels

* CBN
* Fox Business
* Fox News
* Newsmax TV
* One America News Network
* VOZ

Websites

* Babylon Bee
* Breitbart News
* The Bulwark
* Campus Reform
* Conservative Review
* Daily Caller
* Daily Signal
* Daily Wire
* Discover the Networks
* Drudge Report
* The Federalist
* FrontPage Magazine
* Front Porch Republic
* Gateway Pundit
* Hot Air
* Human Events
* Independent Journal Review
* InfoWars
* Jihad Watch
* LifeZette
* NewsBusters
* PJ Media
* Rare
* RedState
* The Dispatch
* Townhall
* Twitchy
* Washington Examiner
* The Washington Free Beacon
* The Western Journal
* WorldNetDaily

Other

* Blaze Media
* Encounter Books
* Evie Magazine
* The First
* Imprimis
* The Political Cesspool
* Passage Publishing
* PragerU
* RealClearPolitics
* Red Scare
* Regnery Publishing
* RSBN
* The Rubin Report
* Sinclair Broadcast Group

Other organizations

Economics

* Americans for Tax Reform
* Club for Growth
* FreedomWorks (defunct)
* National Federation of Independent Business
* National Taxpayers Union
* Tea Party Patriots
* United States Chamber of Commerce

Gun rights

* Gun Owners of America
* National Association for Gun Rights
* National Rifle Association
* Second Amendment Caucus

Identity politics

* ACT for America
* Concerned Women for America
* Council of Conservative Citizens
* Gays Against Groomers
* Independent Women's Forum
* Log Cabin Republicans

Nativist

* Center for Immigration Studies
* Federation for American Immigration Reform
* NumbersUSA
* Oath Keepers
* Three Percenters

Religion

* Alliance Defending Freedom
* Court cases
* American Center for Law & Justice
* American Family Association
* The American TFP
* Chalcedon Foundation
* Christian Coalition of America
* Christian Voice
* Eagle Forum
* Family Research Council
* The Fellowship
* Focus on the Family
* Foundation for Moral Law
* Liberty Counsel
* Moral Majority (defunct)
* National Organization for Marriage
* National Right to Life Committee
* Parents Television and Media Council
* Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America
* Thomas More Law Center

Watchdog groups

* Accuracy in Media
* Econ Journal Watch
* Franklin News Foundation
* Judicial Watch
* Media Research Center
* O'Keefe Media Group
* Project Veritas (defunct)

Youth/student groups

* National Journalism Center
* Turning Point USA
* Young America's Foundation
* Young Americans for Liberty

Miscellaneous

* American Conservative Union
* Bradley Foundation
* The Conservative Caucus
* Council for National Policy
* CPAC
* Faith and Freedom Coalition
* Freedom Caucus
* The 85 Fund
* Hillsdale College
* John Birch Society
* John M. Olin Foundation
* Liberty Fund
* Liberty University
* Moms for Liberty
* National Association of Scholars
* Philadelphia Society
* Regent University
* Republican Study Committee
* Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal
* Texas Public Policy Foundation

Other

* America First Legal
* Atlas Network
* Collegiate Network
* ConservAmerica
* Donors Trust
* Federalist Society
* Gab
* Gettr
* Pacific Justice Institute
* Parler
* Republican Main Street Partnership
* The Right Stuff
* Society for American Civic Renewal
* Ziklag

Movements

* Asian and Pacific Islander
* Black
* Christian right
* Reconstructionism
* Classical education movement
* Paideia
* Female
* Green
* Hispanic and Latino
* LGBT
* Libertarian republicans
* Militia movement
* Monarchism
* Mormon
* White Horse Prophecy
* Theodemocracy
* Parental rights movement
* Fathers' rights
* Patriot movement
* Christian
* Radical right
* Reactionary feminism
* Right-libertarianism
* Paleolibertarianism
* Secessionism
* Neo-Confederates
* in Texas
* Trumpism
* Never Trump

Related

* Agenda47
* America First
* Bibliography of US conservatism
* Conservative talk radio
* GOP factions
* History of US conservatism
* Modern timeline
* List of American conservatives
* NatCon
* Colloquialisms
* "Barstool conservatism"
* "Cuckservative"
* "Don't immanentize the eschaton!"
* Republicans pounce
* RINO
* "South Park Republican"

* Conservatism portal
* United States portal

* v
* t
* e

This article is part of a series on

Libertarianism
in the United States

Schools

* Agorism
* Anarcho-capitalism
* Austro
* Autarchism
* Bleeding-heart
* Christian
* Consequentialist
* Feminist
* Fusionism
* Geo
* Green
* Market anarchism
* Minarchism
* Natural-rights
* Neo
* Paleo
* Panarchism
* Paternalist
* Propertarianism
* Techno
* Transhumanist
* Voluntaryism

Principles

* Anti-imperialism
* Civil libertarianism
* Constitutionalism
* Counter-economics
* Decentralization
* Departurism
* Economic freedom
* Evictionism
* Free banking
* Free market
* Free-market environmentalism
* Free migration
* Free trade
* Free will
* Freedom of association
* Freedom of contract
* Freedom of speech
* Homestead principle
* Individuality
* Individualism
* Liberty
* Limited government
* Localism
* Marriage privatization
* Natural rights and legal rights
* Non-aggression principle
* Non-interventionism
* Non-politics
* Non-voting
* Open border
* Polycentric law
* Private defense agency
* Private property
* Public choice theory
* Restorative justice
* Right to bear arms
* Right to privacy
* Rugged Individualism
* Self-ownership
* Single tax
* Small government
* Spontaneous order
* Stateless society
* Tax resistance
* Title-transfer theory of contract
* Voluntary association
* Voluntary society

History

* Age of Enlightenment
* Abolitionism in the United States
* Classical liberalism
* Anti-Federalism
* Transcendentalism
* Individualist anarchism in the United States
* Old Right
* New Left
* Freedom School

Economics

* Austrian School
* Economic liberalism
* Fiscal conservatism
* Georgism
* Laissez-faire
* Neoliberalism
* Supply-side economics

Intellectuals

* Andrews
* Barnett
* Block
* Brennan
* Caplan
* Carson
* Chartier
* Chodorov
* Ebeling
* Epstein
* Franklin
* D. Friedman
* M. Friedman
* P. Friedman
* R. Friedman
* Galambos
* Garrett
* George
* Griffin
* Gordon
* Harper
* Hazlitt
* Heinlein
* Hess
* Hoppe
* Hospers
* Huemer
* Jefferson
* Kinsella
* Konkin
* R. Lane
* LeFevre
* Machan
* Mencken
* Menger
* Mises
* Nock
* Nozick
* Paterson
* Rand
* Read
* Robertson
* Rockwell
* Rothbard
* Samuels
* Schulman
* Sciabarra
* Scott
* Skousen
* Smith
* Somin
* Sowell
* Sutton
* Szasz
* Thiel
* Thoreau
* Tucker
* Volokh
* Wilder
* Williams
* Wilson
* Yarvin

Commentators

* Chamberlain
* Gillespie
* Gutfeld
* Jones
* McElroy
* Miller
* Postrel
* Pugsley
* Smith
* Soave
* Stone
* Stossel
* Welch
* Will
* Woods

Politicians

* Amash
* Burt
* Cleveland
* Coolidge
* Johnson
* Jorgensen
* Massie
* McAfee
* Nolan
* Paul
* Sarwark
* Ventura

Issues

* Abortion
* Capital punishment
* Criticism
* Foreign affairs
* Immigration
* Intellectual property
* Internal debates
* LGBT rights
* Objectivism
* Political parties
* Politics
* State
* Theories of law

Culture

* Come and take it
* Gadsden flag
* Ben Garrison
* Libertarian science fiction
* Ron Swanson

Organizations

* Cato Institute
* Federalist Society
* Free State Project
* Foundation for Economic Education
* International Alliance of Libertarian Parties
* Libertarian Party
* Liberty International
* Mises Institute
* Reason Foundation
* Reason (magazine)
* Students for a Democratic Society
* Students for Liberty
* Young Americans for Liberty

Literature

* The Anarchist Cookbook
* Anarchy, State, and Utopia
* The Betrayal of the American Right
* The Case Against Education
* Civil Disobedience
* Conceived in Liberty
* The Creature from Jekyll Island
* Defending the Undefendable
* The Discovery of Freedom
* End the Fed
* The Ethics of Liberty
* For a New Liberty
* Free to Choose
* The Future and Its Enemies
* The God of the Machine
* Liberty
* The Machinery of Freedom
* Man, Economy and State
* The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
* The Mainspring of Human Progress
* The Market for Liberty
* The Myth of the Rational Voter
* No, They Can't
* No Treason
* New Libertarian Manifesto
* Our Enemy, the State
* The Problem of Political Authority
* Progress and Poverty
* Protection or Free Trade
* Radicals for Capitalism
* Seeing Like a State
* To Serve and Protect
* The Unconstitutionality of Slavery

See also

* American militia movement
* Boogaloo movement
* Conservatism in the United States
* Cowen
* Dark Enlightenment
* Jacobs
* Jillette
* Koch (Charles)
* Koch (David)
* Left-libertarianism
* Liberalism in the United States
* Libertarian conservatism
* Libertarian Democrat
* Libertarian Republican
* Libertarian socialism
* Libertarianism in Hong Kong
* Libertarianism in South Africa
* Libertarianism in the United Kingdom
* New Right
* Objectivism
* On Democracy in America
* Outline of libertarianism
* Prince
* Napolitano
* Right-libertarianism
* Sovereign citizen movement
* Spooner
* Taleb
* Teller
* Wilson

* Liberalism portal
* Conservatism portal
* Libertarianism portal
* United States portal

* v
* t
* e

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.[4][5][6] Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has chapters at more than 200 law schools and features student, lawyer, and faculty divisions; the lawyers division comprises more than 70,000 practicing attorneys in ninety cities.[1] Through speaking events, lectures, and other activities, it provides a forum for legal experts of opposing conservative views to interact with members of the legal profession, the judiciary, and the legal academy.[7] It is one of the most influential legal organizations in the United States.[8][9]

The Federalist Society was founded in 1982 by a group of students from Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, and The University of Chicago Law School with the aim of challenging liberal or left-wing ideology within elite American law schools and universities. The organization's stated objectives are "checking federal power, protecting individual liberty and interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning",[1] and it plays a central role in networking and mentoring young conservative lawyers.[5] According to Amanda Hollis-Brusky, the Federalist Society "has evolved into the de facto gatekeeper for right-of-center lawyers aspiring to government jobs and federal judgeships under Republican presidents."[8] It vetted President Donald Trump's list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees; in March 2020, 43 out of 51 of Trump's appellate court nominees were current or former members of the society.[10]

In January 2019, The Washington Post wrote that the Federalist Society had reached an "unprecedented peak of power and influence." Of the current nine members of the Supreme Court of the United States, at least five are current or former members of the organization—Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett.[1][11] Chief Justice John Roberts previously served as a member of the steering committee of the Washington, D.C., chapter, but denies ever being a member.[12] Politico wrote that the Federalist Society "has become one of the most influential legal organizations in history—not only shaping law students' thinking but changing American society itself by deliberately, diligently shifting the country's judiciary to the right."[13]

## Founding

[edit]

Founded in 1982 by students at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, and the University of Chicago Law School, the Federalist Society began as a student organization which sought to challenge liberal ideology in American law schools. The group's first activity was a three-day symposium titled "A Symposium on Federalism: Legal and Political Ramifications" held at Yale in April 1982. The symposium, which was attended by 200 people, was organized by Steven G. Calabresi, Lee Liberman Otis, and David M. McIntosh; it included speakers such as Antonin Scalia, Robert Bork, and Theodore Olson.[13]

In 2018, Politico Magazine wrote that "it is no exaggeration to suggest that it was perhaps the most effective student conference ever—a blueprint, in retrospect, for how to marry youthful enthusiasm with intellectual oomph to achieve far-reaching results."[13] The society states that it "is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be."[2]

## Background

[edit]

The society looks to Federalist Paper Number 78 for an articulation of the virtue of judicial restraint, as written by Alexander Hamilton: "It can be of no weight to say that the courts, on the pretense of a repugnancy, may substitute their own pleasure to the constitutional intentions of the legislature ... The courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise WILL instead of JUDGMENT, the consequence would equally be the substitution of their pleasure to that of the legislative body."

Its logo is a silhouette of former President and Constitution author James Madison, who co-wrote The Federalist Papers. Commissioner Paul S. Atkins of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission considered society members "the heirs of James Madison's legacy" in a speech he gave in January 2008 to its lawyers chapter in Dallas, Texas. Madison is generally credited as the father of the Constitution and became the fourth President of the United States.[14]

The society's name is said to have been based on the eighteenth-century Federalist Party;[15] however, James Madison associated with Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republican Party in opposition to Federalist Party policies borne from a loose interpretation of the Commerce Clause. The society's views are more closely associated with the general meaning of Federalism (particularly the New Federalism) and the content of the Federalist Papers than with the later Federalist Party.

The society's initial 1982 conference was funded, at a cost of $25,000, by the Institute for Educational Affairs.[13] Later funding of $5.5 million came from the John M. Olin Foundation. Other early donors included the Scaife Foundation and the Koch family foundations. Donors to the Federalist Society have included Google, Chevron, Charles G. and David H. Koch; the family foundation of Richard Mellon Scaife; and the Mercer family.[16] By 2017, the Federalist Society had $20 million in annual revenue.[1]

The society holds a national lawyers convention each year in Washington, D.C. It is one of the highest profile conservative legal events of the year.[17][18] Speakers have included former ACLU head Nadine Strossen, business executive and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, former BB&T chairman John Allison, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, U.S. Senator Mike Lee, and White House Counsel under President Barack Obama Neil Eggleston.[19] The Federalist Society invites to its events "capable liberal advocates to try to rebut conservative perspectives."[1]

The Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy is the Federalist Society's official journal, and a subscription is provided to members.[13]

The Federalist Society is a client of the public relations firm Creative Response Concepts.[20]

## Methods and influence

[edit]

The Federalist Society has 200 student chapters at law schools across the United States as well as lawyers chapters in 90 U.S. cities. The Federalist Society provides its 70,000 members with "intellectual sparring and professional grooming."[1] David Montgomery, writing in The Washington Post Magazine, said that each individual member of the group is "akin to an excited synapse in a sprawling hive mind with no one actually in charge." Montgomery called the Federalist Society "a remarkably successful example of what political scientists call a 'political epistemic community'," echoing Amanda Hollis-Brusky, who described the Federalist Society as "an interconnected network of experts with policy-relevant knowledge who share certain beliefs and work to actively transmit and translate those beliefs into policy."[5]: 10–11 Former Federalist Society executive vice president Leonard Leo has said "he endorses the network theory of the society," saying, "It's less about who gets what job and more about building a community that can be self-perpetuating and self-sustaining and self-driving."[1]

Steven Teles, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and the author of The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement: The Battle for Control of the Law, wrote that the Federalist Society's influence on the judicial selection process may not be the group's most important impact. Instead, the "supply-and-demand relationship between the judges and the network" may be paramount, with judges needing "scholarship and arguments extending Federalist principles into new areas. Where new legal theories depart from the status quo, they need them to be vetted and legitimized through public debate. They require targeted cases raising questions that provide an opening to move the law. Without professors and lawyers in the network filling that demand, you're not going to maximize what you got through the electoral process."[1] According to professor Lawrence Baum, the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush "aimed to nominate conservative judges, and membership in the Federalist Society was a proxy for adherence to conservative ideology."[21]

The Washington Post Magazine wrote that the Federalist Society "provides the enduring climate within which storms on the right come and go" and that "Much of the Federalist Society's influence comes not from its very public Washington victories but from its behind-the-scenes, grass-roots ability to shift the law at the idea level, even the cultural level."[1] The Federalist Society lobbies for no particular policies, it does not sign amicus briefs, and it does not represent clients in cases.[1] Amanda Hollis-Brusky, political science associate professor at Pomona College, and Calvin TerBeek, Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of Chicago, dispute that the Federalist Society is non-partisan, pointing to documents written by the Federalist Society to donors in 1984 where the organization states that one of its missions is pushing conservative positions.[22] In rebuttal to Hollis-Brusky and TerBeek, former Solicitor General Ted Olson also wrote in Politico Magazine pointing out that in 37 years of its existence never "has the Federalist Society filed a lawsuit or brief in any litigation, and never once during that period has it passed any resolution advocating for or against any legal issue."[23]

In 2018, Politico Magazine wrote that "the organization had markedly and undeniably changed the nature of the judiciary."[13] The Federalist Society has been described as influential during the presidencies of George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump.[7][21]

The American Constitution Society, founded in 2001, was explicitly started as a liberal analogue to the Federalist Society.[1]

In January 2020, the Committee on Codes of Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States circulated a proposed advisory opinion that would bar membership in the Federalist Society or the American Constitution Society for members of the judiciary. The proposed opinion would continue to allow membership in the American Bar Association (ABA).[24][25] The proposed restriction is limited to membership, and judges would still be allowed to participate in events hosted by organizations such as the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society through speaking engagements, panel discussions, and event attendance.[25] The proposed advisory opinion had a 120-day comment stage ending on May 20, 2020.[26]

The Federalist Society has a Regulatory Transparency Project (RTP), whose goal, according to National Review, is to "foster a nationwide conversation about areas where the costs of regulation exceed any benefits."[27] The RTP includes twelve working groups who analyze government regulations in different policy and legal areas. The project's methods include issuing white papers and holding events.[28][29][30]

## Judicial philosophy

[edit]

According to The Washington Post Magazine, "Many individual Federalists are political and ideological warriors, though never in the name of the Federalist Society. Rather, society events provide the proving ground where they hone their arguments, seize a chance to shine and come to the attention of mentors higher up in the political-legal hierarchy. In that sense, the Federalist Society is a talent network and placement agency as well."[1]

A 2008 study found that Federalist Society members appointed by Republican administrations to the U.S. Courts of Appeals had more conservative voting records than non-members.[31] Critics say the organization favors judicial activism, in particular on social issues.[32] Many members of the Federalist Society favored overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that permitted abortion, prior to its overturning in 2022.[32] The organization tends to favor judges who take conservative stances on abortion rights and other social issues.[32] Members of the Federalist Society have presented oral arguments in every single abortion case that has been before the Supreme Court since 1992.[4]: 141

According to the authors of Building Coalitions, Making Policy: The Politics of the Clinton, Bush, and Obama Presidencies (2012), "Federalist Society members declaim the notion that they are united around a particular philosophy," although many members have been associated with textualist or originalist methods of constitutional interpretation. Judicial restraint tends to align with conservative views on abortion and LGBT rights, while "Critics point out that conservatives are typically not so intent on following 'original meaning' in areas such as affirmative action, executive powers, free speech and federalism."[33] Liberals have questioned "how suspiciously convenient it is that the jurisprudence advocated by society members so often yields conservative results."[1] Leonard Leo, former executive vice president of the Federalist Society, "disputes the notion that the Constitution contains either conservative or progressive values, and he denies that originalism is rigged to reach conservative and libertarian results." He told The Washington Post Magazine, "You're practicing originalism appropriately when you're doing so without looking behind the curtain and trying to predetermine results" and that "There are liberals who work really hard at trying to develop a neutral, originalist approach to interpretation...The fact that people may come out differently occasionally—that's okay. Half the battle is just agreeing that it is essential."[1] Increasingly, according to the magazine, "A number of liberal scholars have applied themselves to the task of showing how, in fact, originalist approaches can yield progressive results. As this train of thought has flowed out of the academy, liberal originalist logic is, more and more, showing up in legal briefs and even in Supreme Court dissents."[1]

## Legal activities of members

[edit]

Members of the Federalist Society have opposed regulation of private property and private businesses, and have argued that specific regulations must be enacted by legislatures rather than courts or executives that interpret existing statutes and powers.[4]: 75 [32]

### Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1

[edit]

Members of the Federalist Society have argued that courts should not take race into account when making decisions.[4]: 99 For example, members of the group have argued that civil rights cases involving racially discriminatory policies should not consider race, but rather the individuals involved.[4]: 99 Federalist Society members were extensively involved with the Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 ruling where the Supreme Court struck down voluntary desegregation plans in several jurisdictions.[4]: 99 The authors of The Federalist Society: How Conservatives Took the Law Back from Liberals write that "Conservatives believe, however, that it is not appropriate for the government to promote racial balance. The essence of the conservative position is that there is no legal difference between considering race or gender for purposes of exclusion and considering race or gender for purposes of inclusion. They argue that both are harmful and make racial problems worse. On the other hand, many civil rights advocates believe that because our history has been one of the systematic exclusion of racial minorities and women from social, political, and economic institutions and from positions of power and influence, the conservative view leads to the continuation of exclusion and retards society's ability to move toward inclusion."[4]: 100

### District of Columbia v. Heller

[edit]

Members of the Federalist Society have forcefully argued against regulations on guns. Members hold that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individuals to guns, as opposed to being a collective right to arms. At the time of the Federalist Society's creation and since the 19th century, the Supreme Court and academics had held a more restrictive view of gun rights. The Federalist Society was influential in shifting legal views on gun rights, culminating in the Supreme Court ruling District of Columbia v. Heller which struck down gun regulations in the District of Columbia that required guns to be kept "unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock".[5]: 48

### Citizens United v. FEC

[edit]

The Federalist Society had a significant influence on the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling which weakened regulations on campaign finance by finding that the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for communications by nonprofit corporations, for-profit corporations, labor unions, and other associations.[5]: 82–87

### National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius

[edit]

The ideas of the Federalist Society were "at the intellectual heart" of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, which challenged the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), with members of the group playing a "mostly behind-the-scenes part in NFIB—and in many of the most significant conservative legal victories of the last 30 years."[34] In her book on the history of the Federalist Society, political scientist Amanda Hollis-Brusky writes that "Federalist Society members had been invested in the litigation efforts against the ACA well before the Act was signed into law—before there was even anything concrete to litigate against."[5]: 135

Libertarian law professor Randy Barnett attended his first Federalist Society event in 1986 and found the group "open to testing a diversity of ideas". He became a "leading voice of the growing libertarian wing of the Federalist Society, and he became one of the architects of constitutional claims at the core of lawsuits against the health-care plan."[1] His participation in the legal challenge to the ACA was initiated at the Federalist Society's 2009 national convention, well before the ACA's passage in 2010. He co-authored a 16-page legal memorandum "that outlined a constitutional case against the health-care measure." The memorandum "became a source of talking points during congressional debate and laid the framework for subsequent court challenges; Barnett represented one of the plaintiffs."[1] Barnett said the Federalist Society "involves people, gets them interested, and they oftentimes will do something about that."[1]

## Role in presidencies

[edit]

### George W. Bush administration

[edit]

Legal positions in the George W. Bush administration were overwhelmingly staffed with Federalist Society members.[35] Approximately half of Bush's nominees for appellate court judgeships were Federalist Society members.[35][31] The Bush administration was harshly criticized for the decision to nominate Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, with conservative critics arguing that she lacked a consistently conservative track record, did not have Federalist Society "credentials" and for her purported ties to the ABA (which conservatives considered to be liberal). After conservative outcry, Miers withdrew the nomination.[35] The Bush administration went on to nominate Samuel Alito, a Federalist Society member with a consistent conservative track record who was active in Federalist Society circles, to the Supreme Court.[35]

Members of the society helped to encourage Bush's decision to terminate a nearly half-century-old practice of giving the ABA confidential early access to judicial nominees, allowing the ABA to rate nominee's qualifications for office before the nominations were announced. Since the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the ABA provided the service to presidents of both parties and the nation by vetting the qualifications of those under consideration for lifetime appointment to the federal judiciary before any other group. The society alleged that the bar association showed a liberal bias in its recommendations.[36][37][38] Examples given included that while former Supreme Court clerks nominated to the Court of Appeals by Democrats had an average rating of slightly below "well qualified", similar Republican nominees were rated on average as only "qualified/well qualified." In addition the bar association gave Ronald Reagan's judicial nominees Richard Posner and Frank H. Easterbrook its lowest possible ratings of "qualified/not qualified",[39] and Judges Posner and Easterbrook have gone on to become the two most highly cited judges in the federal appellate judiciary.[40]

### Donald Trump administration

[edit]

According to Politico Magazine, "Trump is president for a long list of reasons, of course, but near the top of that list is the imprimatur the Federalist Society granted him. He almost certainly couldn't have gotten what he wanted without the Federalists. And they almost certainly couldn't have gotten what they wanted without him."[13][further explanation needed] During the 2016 presidential campaign, Texas Senator Ted Cruz "accused Trump of not being a true conservative" and warned Republicans that Trump would nominate liberal judges. While consulting with conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation to create a list of nominees, Trump stated: "I'm going to submit a list of justices, potential justices of the United States Supreme Court, that I will appoint from the list. I won't go beyond that list."[41]

The Federalist Society was influential in the Trump administration, hand-selecting Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and recruiting a slate of conservative judges to fill vacancies throughout the federal judiciary.[42][43][21][35] The society helped to assemble the list of 21 people from which Trump said he would choose a nominee to replace Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. Nine of the 21 individuals spoke at the society's annual convention in late November 2016, while nearly all of the others were in attendance.[44][45] Federalist Society members generally chose not to criticize Trump, and Politico described the Federalist Society membership as "elite, conservative lawyers who have generally chosen to give Trump a pass on his breaches of long-cherished legal norms and traditions in exchange for the gift of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch."[43] Former Federalist Society executive vice president Leonard Leo said: "What President Trump has done with judicial selection and appointments is probably at the very center of his legacy, and may well be his greatest accomplishments thus far."[46]

In May 2018, the Federalist Society hosted a phone call entitled "examining the legality of the Mueller Investigation", where one of the featured speakers argued that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was unconstitutional.[43]

In January 2021, some members of the Federalist Society, such as Jeremy Rosen, an appellate lawyer in Los Angeles, argued that members who assisted Trump in the spreading of false claims of election fraud during the 2020 U.S. presidential election should be "distanced from the conservative group."[47][48] Specific members mentioned for possible removal included John C. Eastman, chair of the Federalist Society's federalism and separation of powers practice group, who made claims about election fraud at a Trump rally on January 6, 2021—the day of the Capitol attack.[47] Others mentioned included Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who voted against the certification of election results.[47]

## Notable members

[edit]

### Current officeholders

[edit]

* Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts (disputed)[note 1]
* Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito[7]
* Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas[7]
* Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch[51]
* Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh[52][53]
* Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett[11]
* FBI Director Christopher A. Wray
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (D.C. Cir.) Gregory G. Katsas[54]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (D.C. Cir.) Neomi Rao[55]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (D.C. Cir.) Justin R. Walker[56]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (6th Cir.) John K. Bush[57]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (7th Cir.) Michael B. Brennan[58]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (8th Cir.) David Stras[59]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Sandra Segal Ikuta[60]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Mark J. Bennett[61]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Ryan D. Nelson[62]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Kenneth K. Lee[63]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Daniel Bress[64]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Danielle J. Forrest[65]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Patrick J. Bumatay[66]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Lawrence VanDyke[67]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (9th Cir.) Anthony Johnstone[68]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (10th Cir.) Allison Eid[69]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (11th Cir.) Kevin Newsom[70]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (11th Cir.) Elizabeth L. Branch[71]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (11th Cir.) Britt Grant[72]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (11th Cir.) Robert Luck[73]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (11th Cir.) Barbara Lagoa[74]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (11th Cir.) Andrew L. Brasher[75]
* United States Court of Appeals Senior Judge (5th Cir.) Edith Brown Clement[76]
* United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Ada E. Brown[77]
* United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon[78]
* Senator Ted Cruz, Republican Senator of Texas[79]
* Senator Josh Hawley, Republican Senator of Missouri[80]
* Senator Todd Young, Republican Senator of Indiana
* Florida Supreme Court Justice Meredith Sasso[81]

### Former officeholders

[edit]

* Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (who served as the original faculty advisor to the organization)[82]
* United States Attorney General Edwin Meese[83]
* U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft[83]
* United States Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler, a co-founder of the Federalist Society[5]
* United States Solicitor General Theodore Olson[83]
* United States Solicitor General Paul Clement[5]
* President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate Orrin Hatch[82]
* Professor Michael W. McConnell at Stanford Law School and former United States Court of Appeals Judge (10th Cir.)[84]
* U.S. Senator and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham[83]
* United States Ambassador to the European Union C. Boyden Gray[83]
* United States Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton[83]
* United States Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff[85]
* General counsel of the Office of Management and Budget and of the Department of Homeland Security Philip Perry[85]
* Texas State Representative and Dallas lawyer Bill Keffer[86]
* United States Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia[87]
* Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division and former acting head of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice Jeffrey Clark[88]
* United States Court of Appeals Chief Judge (9th Cir.) Alex Kozinski[83]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (D.C. Cir.) Robert Bork[89]
* United States Court of Appeals Judge (D.C. Cir.) Thomas Griffith[90]

### Academia

[edit]

* Former President of Baylor University and former independent counsel Kenneth Starr[82]
* Former Columbia Law School Dean David Schizer[91]
* Professor Gary S. Lawson of Boston University School of Law[92]
* Professor Richard Epstein of the New York University School of Law[93]
* Professor William Baude of the University of Chicago Law School[94]
* Professor Randy Barnett of Georgetown University Law Center[5]
* Roger Pilon, Director of Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute[95]
* Former Dean of Chapman University School of Law John C. Eastman[96]

## See also

[edit]

* Conservatism portal
* Law portal
* Libertarianism portal

* American Constitution Society
* Alliance for Justice
* Pacific Legal Foundation
* Brennan Center for Justice
* National Lawyers Guild

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Roberts was at one point reported to have been a member of the society, but Roberts's membership status was never definitively established. Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said Roberts "has no recollection of ever being a member."[49] Following the report, the Washington Post located the Federalist Society Lawyers Division Leadership Directory, 1997–1998, which listed Roberts as a member of the Washington chapter steering committee;[50] however, membership in the society is not a necessary condition for being listed in its leadership directory.[50]

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[edit]

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91. ^ Riehl, Jonathan (2007). The Federalist Society and Movement Conservatism: How a Fractious Coalition on the Right is Changing Constitutional Law and the Way We Talk and Think about it. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. p. 141\. ISBN 9780549128793.
92. ^ Volokh, Eugene (2001-06-03). "Our Flaw? We're Just Not Liberals". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2008-04-03. Retrieved 2008-04-09.
93. ^ Hollis-Brusky, Amanda (March 5, 2015). "The Federalist Society to Fox News to the Supreme Court: The real story behind the conservative war on Obamacare". Salon. Archived from the original on March 8, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
94. ^ Maude, William (January 13, 2021). "FedSoc is a They, Not an It". Summary, Judgment. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
95. ^ Volokh, Eugene (2001-06-03). "Our Flaw? We're Just Not Liberals". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2008-04-03. Retrieved 2008-04-09.
96. ^ Cassens Weiss, Debra. "Should the Federalist Society reckon with members who aided Trump's false election claims?". ABA Journal. Retrieved 2021-03-13.

## Further reading

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* Fiss, Owen (1992). "What is the Federalist Society?" (PDF). Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. 15: 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-11. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
* Teles, Steven M. (2008). The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement: The Battle for Control of the Law. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691122083.

## External links

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Library resources about
Federalist Society

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* Resources in your library
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* Official website
* Regulatory Transparency Project
* Organizational Profile – National Center for Charitable Statistics (Urban Institute)
* "Federalist Society Internal Revenue Service filings". ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
* Federalist Society at Ballotpedia

Authority control databases

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* IdRef

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