Federalist Society

It began in 1982 with a handful of law students at Yale and the University of Chicago who saw themselves as minorities. They were conservatives. As a counter to liberal orthodoxy, they formed a legal debating group they called the Federalist Society. And in a hint of things to come, their first faculty advisor at the Chicago chapter was professor Antonin Scalia, soon to be the most influential conservative on the Supreme Court.

The conservative Gotterdammerung is finally here. "Like dazed survivors in a ravaged city, America's conservatives are wailing and beating their collective breasts," opines the Economist's "Lexington" columnist. "A leading conservative thinker," asked by the Economist to "list today's conservative ideas, laughs bitterly and replies, 'Are there any?'" Former Reaganite Rep. Vin Weber (R-Minn.) laments in the conservative journal Policy Review, "I have never been so concerned about the future of conservative ideas.

The current impasse in the Senate approval of federal appellate court judges isn't about payback or politics, and it isn't a "game," as suggested in the headline of your Jan. 21 editorial, "Judgeship Game Cycles On." It's about not confirming judges who would set the country's laws back 200 years. The judicial nominees sent down by President Bush were handpicked by the ultra-right-wing Federalist Society, a group of lawyers so extreme they advocate rolling back the law to the 18th century.

Prop. 8's legal future Re "Same-sex marriage fight may hinge on 1 justice," Feb. 9 The Times' excellent analysis of a likely Supreme Court hearing on Proposition 8 omits one factor that might alter the bench's usual conservative-liberal split: the role of Theodore Olson. As an influential member of the Federalist Society, his argument that marriage equality is fully consistent with conservative values may lead one or two of the group's members on the Supreme Court (perhapsJohn G. Roberts Jr.andSamuel A. Alito Jr.)

The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question of whether it would hear a challenge to President Obama's healthcare law, two of its justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were feted at a dinner sponsored by the law firm that will argue the case before the high court. The occasion was last Thursday, when all nine justices met for a conference to pore over the petitions for review. One of the cases at issue was a suit brought by 26 states challenging the sweeping healthcare overhaul passed by Congress last year, a law that has been a rallying cry for conservative activists nationwide.

Louis XIV of France was infamous for his view that there was no distinction between himself and the state, allegedly proclaiming "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the State"). That notorious merging of personality with an institution was again on display in a February speech by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas before the conservative Federalist Society. Thomas used the friendly audience to finally address a chorus of criticism over his alleged conflicts of interest and violation of federal disclosure rules concerning his wife's income.

Re "The faith of John Roberts," Opinion, July 25 Re "Sitting in judgment on John G.," Current, July 24 I agree with the Erwin Chemerinsky analysis on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr., with one additional perspective: The Bush administration's raw suppression of access to basic information about Roberts' public record is a deliberate effort to thwart the constitutionally ordained advise-and-consent authority of the Senate....

Re "Poor judgment," editorial, Sept. 30 Whether the 22 senators who voted against John G. Roberts Jr. were on the wrong side remains to be seen. Much of Roberts' record was concealed by the Bush administration. What little record there is from his service in the Reagan administration suggests that he is an ideologue, as does his connection to the Federalist Society. His meeting with the president at the same time he was involved in an appellate case involving the scope of presidential powers calls into question his ethics.

The conservative Gotterdammerung is finally here. "Like dazed survivors in a ravaged city, America's conservatives are wailing and beating their collective breasts," opines the Economist's "Lexington" columnist. "A leading conservative thinker," asked by the Economist to "list today's conservative ideas, laughs bitterly and replies, 'Are there any?'" Former Reaganite Rep. Vin Weber (R-Minn.) laments in the conservative journal Policy Review, "I have never been so concerned about the future of conservative ideas.

Prop. 8's legal future Re "Same-sex marriage fight may hinge on 1 justice," Feb. 9 The Times' excellent analysis of a likely Supreme Court hearing on Proposition 8 omits one factor that might alter the bench's usual conservative-liberal split: the role of Theodore Olson. As an influential member of the Federalist Society, his argument that marriage equality is fully consistent with conservative values may lead one or two of the group's members on the Supreme Court (perhapsJohn G. Roberts Jr.andSamuel A. Alito Jr.)

The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question of whether it would hear a challenge to President Obama's healthcare law, two of its justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were feted at a dinner sponsored by the law firm that will argue the case before the high court. The occasion was last Thursday, when all nine justices met for a conference to pore over the petitions for review. One of the cases at issue was a suit brought by 26 states challenging the sweeping healthcare overhaul passed by Congress last year, a law that has been a rallying cry for conservative activists nationwide.

The thing Rep. Scott DesJarlais remembers most about the energy crisis of 1979 is collecting extra gas money from his buddies. The Republican from Tennessee was 15. When President Reagan was renominated by his party in 1984, Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) was outside the Dallas convention center with his friends, wishing he was a few years older so he could vote for the man he already idolized. Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) considered himself a Democrat when he went to college in 1993, the first year of Bill Clinton's presidency.

Louis XIV of France was infamous for his view that there was no distinction between himself and the state, allegedly proclaiming "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the State"). That notorious merging of personality with an institution was again on display in a February speech by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas before the conservative Federalist Society. Thomas used the friendly audience to finally address a chorus of criticism over his alleged conflicts of interest and violation of federal disclosure rules concerning his wife's income.

Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani won a warm reception from the conservative Federalist Society on Friday, promising that if he reached the White House, he would appoint future Supreme Court justices who are like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. The former New York mayor also endorsed gun rights under the 2nd Amendment, an issue now pending before the high court.

President Bush joined three Supreme Court justices Thursday evening to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group that has had a powerful influence on the law and legal thinking. The group was organized in 1982 as a legal debating society for young conservatives who saw themselves as outsiders at the liberal-dominated Yale Law School.

It began in 1982 with a handful of law students at Yale and the University of Chicago who saw themselves as minorities. They were conservatives. As a counter to liberal orthodoxy, they formed a legal debating group they called the Federalist Society. And in a hint of things to come, their first faculty advisor at the Chicago chapter was professor Antonin Scalia, soon to be the most influential conservative on the Supreme Court.

Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani won a warm reception from the conservative Federalist Society on Friday, promising that if he reached the White House, he would appoint future Supreme Court justices who are like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. The former New York mayor also endorsed gun rights under the 2nd Amendment, an issue now pending before the high court.

The thing Rep. Scott DesJarlais remembers most about the energy crisis of 1979 is collecting extra gas money from his buddies. The Republican from Tennessee was 15. When President Reagan was renominated by his party in 1984, Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) was outside the Dallas convention center with his friends, wishing he was a few years older so he could vote for the man he already idolized. Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) considered himself a Democrat when he went to college in 1993, the first year of Bill Clinton's presidency.

Re "Poor judgment," editorial, Sept. 30 Whether the 22 senators who voted against John G. Roberts Jr. were on the wrong side remains to be seen. Much of Roberts' record was concealed by the Bush administration. What little record there is from his service in the Reagan administration suggests that he is an ideologue, as does his connection to the Federalist Society. His meeting with the president at the same time he was involved in an appellate case involving the scope of presidential powers calls into question his ethics.

Re "The faith of John Roberts," Opinion, July 25 Re "Sitting in judgment on John G.," Current, July 24 I agree with the Erwin Chemerinsky analysis on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr., with one additional perspective: The Bush administration's raw suppression of access to basic information about Roberts' public record is a deliberate effort to thwart the constitutionally ordained advise-and-consent authority of the Senate....