What Do We Know About The Federalist Society?

[stepnw1f]

We should compile a thread for anything pertaining to the Federalist Society
example: financial funding, members, ideology, goals, infrastructure, etc.

We need to gather evidence of who they are and what they are doing. Then we should spread all this info as far and wide as we can.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Heard Laura Flanders discussing this today. You are absolutely right.

I did not know it was founded by Bork in 1982, and that Bush's new nominee for the Supreme Court "did not remember" that he was on its steering committee while Ted Olsen was its Chairman!!!!!!

What a f**king liar!!!

Their agenda is a bad as that of the Dominionists!!!

Laura waw discussing this with Alfred Ross who is the head of athe Institute for Democracy Studies which has a lot of info about the Federalist Society

http://www.institutefordemocracy.org/fedsoc.html

Federalist Society leaders have emerged as the top attorneys for George Bush in both the Florida Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States. With Federalist Society DC Chapter President Ted Olson as lead attorney before the Supreme Court, they are determined to win not just the Presidency, but to begin the process of institutionalizing a comprehensive agenda challenging every aspect of a democratic judicial system.*

Targeting the courts, the law schools, and the American Bar Association, the Federalist Society has emerged as an increasingly powerful coalition of conservative and libertarian legal activists developing broad-based challenges to fundamental principles of constitutional law.

Other Federalist Society leaders include Robert Bork, C. Boyden Gray, Edwin Meese, Scaife Foundation Trustee, T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr., former Christian Coalition President Donald Paul Hodel, and the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Orrin Hatch.

With 15 practice groups spanning every area of the legal system from civil rights and religious liberties to corporations law and telecommunications, with a presence in 140 law schools across the nation, and backed by millions of dollars from leading right-wing and libertarian foundations, the Federalist Society is quietly and successfully shaping the emerging jurisprudence.

The ongoing debate concerning the presidential election has raised many important questions about the future direction of the American legal system. This compelling new report from IDS provides striking new information about the infrastructure underlying the right wing assault on the democratic foundations of our legal system.

Home page for the IDS:
http://www.institutefordemocracy.org/


Ross also mentioned that we should find out and spread all the info we can about the 15 practice groups that the Federalist Scoiety has. They each focus on different areas of the law, and are trying to take the laws of this country back 100 years. They are just about finished wiht their job at the Federal leval and are now concentrating on putting their legal puppets into all the state level judgeships.

The membership levels of the Federalist Society scares the hell out of me.

[eleny]

2. I'm very troubled by Roberts

And am concerend that some Dems in Congress feel that it's not worth fighting his confirmation.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. The Bush spin machine has been doing a great job of hiding his true

agenda.
He is scarier than most of the other nominees because he LOOKS so harmless!!!! Like Ted Bundy was a scary serial killer, because he looked so normal!!
He was on the Steering Committee of the Federalist Society and then makes a public statement that he cannot remember being a member??!!!

This is VERY scary stuff...especially if you read what the Federalist Society's goals are for this country.

I was not exaggerating when I compared them to the Dominionists.

[acmejack]

8. Rightfully so!

Roberts is a god fearing, free trading, anti-consumer corporatist.

[FreedomAngel82]

11. All this info should be sent to Harry Reid

[ShockediSay]

34. If Reid doesn't have staffers following this forum -

he's not doing his job.

[shelley806]

31. We should all be VERY Concerned...Everyone please check out this

DU site (posted a few days ago); Roberts link to voice your questions.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1966197

[FreedomAngel82]

10. Oh wow

Good info. I see now why Bush wantst these people. :mad: Not remembering my ass.

[BeHereNow]

16. A review of BORK/ James Boyle

If you can fumble thru this LONG and LEGALIZE speak
review, you will:
a. Puke
b. Not sleep for days

What everyone needs to know about the Roberts nomination
in the light of Bork/PNAC/Federalist Society is to be found by
visiting the PNAC site.
Judge Bork's ideology is espoused freely by his wife
Ellen Bork, a frequent co-author to contributions on
the PNAC site with Gary Schmitt.
Scary stuff, when you realize the neocon intent in
appointing Roberts to the SCOTUS.
READ it-
It will be hard to read because it is long and full of
three and four syllable words utilized in the "law-speak"
language of the elite, but you REALLY must struggle thru it
to fully comprehend the horizon.
http://www.law.duke.edu/boylesite/bork.htm
BHN

[AuntiBush]

22. That's it! They Are Hell-Bent to Change the Constitution!

Well documented, especially this line: "begin the process of institutionalizing a comprehensive agenda challenging every aspect of a democratic judicial system..."

It says it right there! They want to rid America of "Democracy!"

Edited to Add Google Link: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=what+are+%22the+federalist%22&btnG=Google+Search

[blondeatlast]

44. That phrase should be in newspaper and TV ads nationwide. That's some

chilling rhetoric.

Even if roberts wants to "forget" he was part of the FS, we cna connect him to that phrase by implication.

It's what the RW noise machine does to the left all the time.

The gloves are off in this fight.

Shorten the phrase a bit, as such: "begin ... a comprehensive agenda challenging every aspect of a democratic ... system."

[AuntiBush]

46. God, "blodeatlast..." Are we the only ones (out here) that get it?

It's so incomprehensible, what * is getting away with. Mind-boggling to say the very, very least.

[Pachamama]

39. I thought the exact same thing as I listened to Flanders today! Between

the Neo-cons (Project for the New American Century) and also the Federalist Society, these two organizations and their members are perhaps the single greatest "threat" I believe exists to our Constitution and the future of this country as we know it to have been founded to be.

We need to be exposing and even infiltrating these organizations as much as we possibly can. The world and the citizens of this country need to be woken up and shown what is going on and who has taken over and what their "true" beliefs, intentions and goals are.

I literally shuddered as I listened to some of the details of this organization today on Flanders show and I had this thought just flash across my mind that these people are so dangerous and have to be stopped from taking over before its too late.

This must have been what my Grandparents and their friends in Germany felt when they watched the Nazis and Hitler rising in power prior to 1939.... :scared:

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Maybe this is a job for the DU activists.

[stepnw1f]

7. Whatever Works

From what I heard on Laura Flanders show tonight, I believe we will need this ASAP.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. I was just sitting at my PC with notes I had taken during the Laura Fander

show to do some research on the Federalist Society when I saw your post.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. Wasn't the so-called "Buckhead" a member of the Federalist Society?

Harry W. MacDougald (aka "Buckhead") was the guy who apparently went on-line within a couple of hours of the 60 Minutes broadcast by Dan Rather with speculation that the Killian Memos were fake, with information about fonts and typewriters apparently at his fingertips. MacDougald (according to the article revealing his true identity in the L.A. Times) was an Atlanta area lawyer well connected to state and national Republican and conservative causes. MacDougald apparently was involved in drafting the petition for Clinton's disbarrment and also worked with Mitch McConnell and Ken Starr to unsuccessfully challenge the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law. I definetely recall that he was a member of the conservative attorney's association known as the Federalist Society.

[BrklynLiberal]

6. I would be more surprised if he were not a member. It was all a RW

man-made tornado attempt to discredit the information by discrediting the messenger. No doubt that Rove has his fingers in that group as well. If he is not a real member, he is no doubt, an honorary member.

[FreedomAngel82]

13. Oh wow

So this goes way back. Wow. The same players and everything.

[BrklynLiberal]

12. THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY documents online..

THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY AND THE CHALLENGE TO A DEMOCRATIC JURISPRUDENCE


http://www.institutefordemocracy.org/publications.html

[BrklynLiberal]

14. Here is the article that lists Roberts as being on the Steering Committee

of the Federalist Society

Roberts Listed in Federalist Society '97-98 Directory
Court Nominee Said He Has No Memory of Membership

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 25, 2005; Page A01

Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. has repeatedly said that he has no memory of belonging to the Federalist Society, but his name appears in the influential, conservative legal organization's 1997-1998 leadership directory.

Having served only two years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after a long career as a government and private-sector lawyer, Roberts has not amassed much of a public paper record that would show his judicial philosophy. Working with the Federalist Society would provide some clue of his sympathies. The organization keeps its membership rolls secret, but many key policymakers in the Bush administration are acknowledged current or former members.

Roberts has burnished his legal image carefully. When news organizations have reported his membership in the society, he or others speaking on his behalf have sought corrections. Last week, the White House told news organizations that had reported his membership in the group that he had no memory of belonging. The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Associated Press printed corrections

Over the weekend, The Post obtained a copy of the Federalist Society Lawyers' Division Leadership Directory, 1997-1998. It lists Roberts, then a partner at the law firm Hogan & Hartson, as a member of the steering committee of the organization's Washington chapter and includes his firm's address and telephone number.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/24/AR2005072401201.html

[BrklynLiberal]

15. Their goals, as stated on their site....

OUR PURPOSE

* Law schools and the legal profession are currently strongly dominated by a form of orthodox liberal ideology which advocates a centralized and uniform society. While some members of the academic community have dissented from these views, by and large they are taught simultaneously with (and indeed as if they were) the law.

* The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order. 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.

* The Society seeks both to promote an awareness of these principles and to further their application through its activities. This entails reordering priorities within the legal system to place a premium on individual liberty, traditional values, and the rule of law. It also requires restoring the recognition of the importance of these norms among lawyers, judges, and law professors.

* In working to achieve these goals, the Society has created a conservative and libertarian intellectual network that extends to all levels of the legal community.


http://www.fed-soc.org/ourpurpose.htm


Can anyone spell ACTIVIST JUDGES?

[AuntiBush]

25. This is Purely Disgusting & Explains So Much.

So. We're no longer "we the people," rather the "elite" whom now hold all inter-connected power through-out these lands and we're now what (?) peasants? And they learned how to "divide and conquor." Think about it.

I have seen horrific changes in the the courts in my state that DO NOT protect the citizens/workers. All powers have shifted to the "extreme right" for corporate law firms, huge corporations, larger telecommunications, and insurance companies -- all abedded together.

We've been slowly and systematically mind-boggled by the those of power now... they do eat their own (i.e. Terri Shavio/FL case) as one example. Even Republican judges not with the "in" crowd no longer count. And I hate to break this to all here, but some Dems on local/legal levels are in on this.

What one might here: "Hey, I got kids to feed," "2 ex-wives...." etc. In reality "they" jumped ship to keep those 700+K homes and elite lifestyles, and their power-driven jobs.

I know! Human life/death from major huge business errors over (i.e) nickle & dime nuts/bolts means nada anymore. Only their profits. The victims family isn't worth but pid-lings, yet (i.e.) a Bethesda woman can get 5 1/2 mil in a lawsuit learning her PA lover is married.

Edited for typos.

[BrklynLiberal]

17. Want to see how they are reacting to nomination of Roberts?

http://www.fed-soc.org/

Check out there HOME page...scroll down and browse around to see their what true interests are.

[wli]

19. Statement of Eugene B. Meyer, President, the Federalist Society

The following is a statement by Federalist Society President Eugene B. Meyer responding to inquiries about the July 25, 2005 Washington Post story, "Roberts Listed in Federalist Society '97-98 Directory."

"The Federalist Society has a longstanding practice of not disclosing our dues-paying membership rolls out of the respect for the privacy of our members. Membership is open to anyone who wishes to join, the Society's programs are open to the public, and our website lists over 500 individuals who serve as volunteer leaders of the organization. We also issue annually a list of our donors, which is contained in our annual report.

The Federalist Society is an organization of about 35,000 established in 1982 on the priciples that `the State exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to saw what the law is, not what it should be.'

The Society's principal purpose is to sponsor fair, serious, and open debate about these principles, and the organization has a rich tradition of hosting speakers on all sides of the political spectrum. The Federalist Society has had the privilege of bringing together some of the nation's most distinguished public officials, judges, lawyers, and scholars to participate in its programming, and many of the nation's most prominent attorneys have been involved in the organization."

[wli]

20. quoted in full, as it's precisely four paragraphs

[AuntiBush]

18. Not A Thing: But here are Some Web Sites

You tell us and we'll all know. I don't like the sound of them. Not 1 damn bit. (From Google) And there are tons of links.

Fed-Soc.org - The Federalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order. http://www.fed-soc.org/

From Revolution to Reconstruction Documents:

Federalist Papers USA-project, text-area, This is a collection of the Federalist Papers.http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1776-1800/federalist/fedxx.htm

The Federalist Patriot - It's Right and It's Free by E-mail
The Conservative E-Journal of Record - It's Rright and It's FREE by E-mail. http://federalistpatriot.us/

[AuntiBush]

21. From What I Get out of it...

The Federalists believe in going back to pre-forming of the Constitution -- back to British rule. I am not kidding on this. It's "federal" leveled rule, like emperial, tyranny.

And *, during his campaigns swore "less" govt control. Yeah. Right. I want my damn country back.

Clinton -- all is forgiven: Please... Come back!

Do American and European values differ?
David Lennard, British Born, Spainish resident, European federalist ... For example, the offfical platform of the Republican party is anti-abortion and ... http:www.freeworldweb.net/values.html

[Patchuli]

27. Why do these RW nutjobs

refer to themselves as being of the "free world" and "free republic" when they want anything BUT freedom for other people?! What are we "free" from? Our freaking rights? "Free" is not denying others the right to private choices. The world is overpopulated as it is.

These people have to be stopped. The world depends on it.

[AuntiBush]

28. To "Condition" OUR Minds. Divide & Conquer "US" and

so they may live "freely," "comfortably" while maintaining a nice, comfy-cozy elite existence. Trouble is, now they believe they control the military, too.

Forget the "meek inheriting the world." The elite have it all.

Think of that ole saying: "Greed is the root to ALL evil." Power. Greed. Money. They lusted for so long, when in reality they now have it.

Ba$tard$!

[Starfury]

41. For them, freedom = they can do whatever they want

It's the same folks who get upset with environmental restrictions, affirmative action, employee rights, and other "liberal" laws and regulations that restrict their freedoms. If libertarians and conservatives have their way, they will create a society devoid of morality and ethics. They've already made considerable progress over the last 30 years...

[stepnw1f]

23. Roberts Listed in Federalist Society '97-98 Directory

Court Nominee Said He Has No Memory of Membership

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 25, 2005; Page A01


Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. has repeatedly said that he has no memory of belonging to the Federalist Society, but his name appears in the influential, conservative legal organization's 1997-1998 leadership directory.

Having served only two years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after a long career as a government and private-sector lawyer, Roberts has not amassed much of a public paper record that would show his judicial philosophy. Working with the Federalist Society would provide some clue of his sympathies. The organization keeps its membership rolls secret, but many key policymakers in the Bush administration are acknowledged current or former members.

Roberts has burnished his legal image carefully. When news organizations have reported his membership in the society, he or others speaking on his behalf have sought corrections. Last week, the White House told news organizations that had reported his membership in the group that he had no memory of belonging. The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Associated Press printed corrections.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/24/AR2005072401201.html

[stepnw1f]

24. What the Federalist Society Stands For

Group Is Haven for Conservative Thought

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 29, 2005; Page A21


After President Bush tapped John G. Roberts Jr. for the Supreme Court, the nominee was widely reported to be a member of the Federalist Society -- an assertion that White House officials vigorously disputed.

When it was later disclosed that Roberts was once listed as serving on the steering committee of the group's Washington chapter, Bush aides continued to insist that Roberts has no recollection of ever being a full-fledged member of the conservative legal group.

The eagerness of the White House to distance Roberts from the Federalist Society baffled many conservatives. They believe the reaction fed a false perception that membership in the organization -- an important pillar of the conservative legal movement -- was something nefarious that would damage Roberts's chances of confirmation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072801779.html

[stepnw1f]

26. Federalist Society - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Federalist Society began at the University of Chicago Law School and Yale Law School in 1982 as a student organization that challenged what it saw as the orthodox liberal ideology found in most law schools. In its Statement of Principles, the Society states that it is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of powers is central to the United States' constitutional form of government, and that the role of the judicial branch is to say what the law is, not what the law should be.

The Society currently has chapters at 145 United States law schools, including all of those ranked in the top 20. The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies also serves as a parent organization for conservatives, moderates, and libertarians who are interested in the current state of the legal order.

....

Background

The Society’s name is a reference to the concepts of Federalism (again, the concept that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be, which is the province of the states' legislature). This concept is clearly stated in the Federalist Papers, Article Number 78: “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.”

Therefore, the Society’s name is also a reference to the Federalist Papers, a series of articles intended to explain the new Constitution to the residents of New York state and persuade them to ratify it. A compilation of the Papers, called The Federalist, was published in 1788. The articles were written under the pseudonym "Publius" by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.

Due to the strong influence of James Madison on the Society’s philosophy, the Federalist Society considers Madison to be their patriarch, hence the use of Madison’s silhouette in the Society’s official logo. Madison is generally credited as the father of the Constitution and became the fourth President of the United States.


Aims and membership

The Society seeks to promote the ideology set forth in its "Statement of Principles" through its activities. In working to achieve these goals, the Society has created a network of intellectuals that extends to all levels of the legal community. The Student Division has more than 5,000 law students as members and, through the national office's network of legal experts, the Society provides speakers for differing viewpoints at law school events. The activities of the Student Division are complemented by the activities of the Lawyers Division, which comprises more than 20,000 legal professionals, and the Faculty Division, which includes many of the rising stars in the academic legal community.

The society has argued for the abolition of the Securities and Exchange Commission, severely limiting the power of the Environmental Protection Agency, and rolling back gender equity laws (Title IX) and voting rights law. Its publications have criticized teaching evolution and attacked the principle of separation of church and state.<1>

Members hope the Federalist Society is seen as a non-partisan organization that seeks to foster spirited debate of constitutional issues and public policy questions. Some events the Society sponsors attract noteworthy participants and attendees who do not share the views of the Society's conservative and libertarian members. On some issues, such as drug legalization and abortion, there is a clear split in opinion between conservative and libertarian Society members.

According to Alfred Ross, of the Institute of Democracy Studies, "they recently launched a state judicial selection project to try to dominate the state, as well as federal, bench."<2>


Members

The Society has many prominent conservative members, including United States Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, former United States Circuit Court Judge Robert Bork, former United States Attorney General Edwin Meese, and former California Attorney General Dan Lungren.

The Society also has many prominent libertarians who are members and frequent speakers at Society events, such as Professor Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago Law School, Professor Randy Barnett of Boston University School of Law, and Roger Pilon, Director of Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute.

Other members include: Leonard Leo, and C. Boyden Gray. The 2005 Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts, Jr. was also reported to be a member, but there was uncertainty about this fact when Dana Perino, White House spokeswoman, said, "He has no recollection of ever being a member." <3>. However, The Washington Post later located the Federalist Society Lawyers' Division Leadership Directory, 1997-1998, which listed him as a member of the Washington chapter steering committee, although, membership in the society is not necessarily required to be listed in the "leadership directory." Furthermore, no confirmable membership information has been disclosed at this point.<4> Members of the Society have disputed this disavowal as unfairly tainting both the Society and the nominee, and have stated that membership is more informal than a fifty-dollar yearly membership fee.<5>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society

[Pachamama]

40. Wasn't Strauss who is the "guru" of the PNAC followers from U of Chicago?

:shrug:

If so, there has to be a link between PNAC and Federalist Society....

Too coincidink....

[stepnw1f]

29. Right Wing Organizations

Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies

1015 18th St NW, Suite 425
Washington, DC 20036
www.fed-soc.org

Established: 1982 by a group of right-wing law students
Executive Director: Eugene Meyer

Finances: $3 million (2000 income for their C-3 foundation)

Membership: The FS Lawyers Division has 25,000 legal professionals: Student Division has more than 5,000 law students at 145 law schools, 60 metropolitan lawyers chapters, 15 nationwide practice groups, and a new Faculty Division with unpublished membership numbers.

Publications: Several e-mail newsletters on different topics, a quarterly law journal, a “Conservative and Libertarian Pre-Law Reading List,” and various reports on legal issues.


Federalist Society's Principal Issues:

• FS hopes to transform the American legal system by developing and promoting far-right positions and influencing who will become judges, top government officials, and decision-makers. FS is “dedicated to reforming the current legal order.”

• The FS is an well established network of right-wing lawyers, politicians, pundits, and judges.

• Many members of the FS advocate a rollback of civil rights measures, reproductive choice, and generally support conservative morality being enshrined in federal and state laws. FS advocates school vouchers.

• In FS’s guide to forming and running a chapter of the society, FS says it “creates an informal network of people with shared views which can provide assistance in job placement.”

• FS has 15 different “practice groups” that focus on particular legal issues, such as civil rights and labor and employment law.

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=3149

[shelley806]

30. Members of Bush Administration, partial list 2003(?)

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=3149

Federalist Society's Principal Issues:


FS hopes to transform the American legal system by developing and promoting far-right positions and influencing who will become judges, top government officials, and decision-makers. FS is “dedicated to reforming the current legal order.”

The FS is an well established network of right-wing lawyers, politicians, pundits, and judges.

Many members of the FS advocate a rollback of civil rights measures, reproductive choice, and generally support conservative morality being enshrined in federal and state laws. FS advocates school vouchers.

Federalist Society Members in the Bush Administration: :


Attorney General John Ashcroft

Secretary of the Department of Energy Spencer Abraham

Secretary of the Department of Interior Gale Norton

Solicitor of Labor Eugene Scalia (Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s son)

General Counsel of the Department of Education Brian Jones
Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson

Solicitor General Ted Olson

Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy Viet Dinh
Inspector General of Department of Defense Joseph E. Schmitz

Asst. Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources Thomas L. Sansonetti

Principal Deputy Solicitor General Paul Clement

Associate Deputy Attorney General R. Ted Cruz

Director of National Institute of Justice Sarah V. Hart
Back to Top


Other High-Profile Federalist Society Members :

Justice Antonin Scalia, U.S. Supreme Court

Senator Orrin Hatch

Kenneth Starr, former White House Independent Counsel whose investigation led to President Clinton’s impeachment

Judge Robert Bork, failed Supreme Court nominee

Linda Chavez, President of the Center for Equal Opportunity

Charles Murray, controversial author who asserted that some races are inherently less intelligent than others

Don Hodel, former Christian Coalition president

Michigan Governor John Engler

Justice Maura Corrigan, Michican Supreme Court Chief Justice (4 other justices on the state supreme court are also members of the FS)

Attorney General Don Stenberg, Nebraska

Attorney General William Pryor, Alabama

Attorney General Alan Lance, Idaho

[ShockediSay]

32. VIOLATES CODE OF JUDICIAL ETHICS?!?

It was my understanding that the Code of Conduct for United
States Judges mandated they avoid even the appearance of partisanship
or partiality. The Code only allows judges to "participate in civic
and charitable activities that do not reflect adversely upon the
judge's impartiality."

It would seem that any judge participating in the activities of the Federalist Society has violated the Code.

When did the Federal Judiciary 1st become a partisan political player? I think it was when the right winger spin slingers framed it as such. The Code reflects that the long established number one priority for the federal judiciary is one's impartiality, not one's ideological agenda.

[ShockediSay]

33. Inside Skinny; NYT April 18,2001

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/18/politics/18FEDE.html?ei=5070&en=58eb24b13d79040d&ex=1122868800&pagewanted=print

April 18, 2001
A Conservative Legal Group Thrives in Bush's Washington
By NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON, April 17 — The Federalist Society was founded almost 20 years ago by a handful of conservative law students who felt that they were a beleaguered minority at their elite schools, isolated and even disdained in a dominant liberal intellectual environment.

Today, the society's status and influence are vastly different.

The organization counts among its 25,000 members some of the most influential officials in the Bush administration. Many federal judges are ardent supporters. And of the 70 candidates interviewed so far by the Bush administration for appointment to the bench, about a fourth of them were recommended by the Federalist Society's Washington headquarters, administration officials said.

When President Bush puts forward his first group of judicial nominees in the coming weeks, Federalist Society members are expected to be among them....

[shelley806]

35. Check out this blog site essay on the Federalist Society, posted by a

self-described centrist, libertarian in Feb 2003...

http://www.therant.info/archives/000066.html
<snip>
The Federalist Society

"Posted by Dietz Smith on February 27, 2003 09:05 AM When most of us think of conspiracies we picture shady backrooms, high tech espionage, secret societies or religious cabals. Although I admit the possibility of conspiracies I generally consider them to be on a small scale of limited impact, more along the lines of corporate collusion and price fixing. So I was surprised to find a very public organization behaving in a manner consistent with those conspiratorial fears we usually attribute to the lunatic fringe.
In researching an article I recently wrote on Attorney General John Ashcroft, I happened across a reference to the Federalist Society , an organization I had heard mentioned in the popular press, but never really gave much notice. What sparked my interest was Ashcroft"s membership in the group. This led me to investigate and what I found was astonishing."..."So my initial response was, cool, a right wing organization wanting to protect my rights and encourage open debate. But as I looked deeper I discovered a very different reality.
I started by looking in to the Societies governing body the Board of Directors and Board of Visitors, formerly known as Trustees. There I found a who's who of ultra right wing politico's and legal professionals."....

Here he list B* Administration Federalist Society Members...And then he goes on with the following obeservations and conclusions (even more chilling in light of the fact that this was before Roberts nomination.)

"At this point I was starting to get a much clearer idea of what the Federalist Society stood for. All though I did much more reading, what I came across was more of the same; States Rights, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Civil Rights, Anti-Government Regulation, Pro-Gun, Pro-Christian religion to the exclusion of all others and so on. The question then became, what of it? There are many such organizations, so why worry? To begin with the governing body is comprised of some heavy hitters. The Society also has over 5000 student members belonging to chapters in law schools through out the country, 145 to be exact. Including all of the top twenty schools. The legal division is comprised of more than 20,000 members in the legal profession. And the Society estaWhen George W. Bush took the presidency under questionable circumstances it was assumed by many that he would govern from the center. What choice did he have? An electoral tie and an evenly split congress would require him to govern from the middle. That didn't happen. He pulled out of Kyoto, broke his promise to curb CO2 emissions, moved to end the ABM treaty, ignored the Middle East in a blatant show of isolationism. This of course blew up in his face so his response was, and still is, largely unilateral. There are a number of other examples of right-wing conservatism; an income tax cut designed to benefit the top 10%, Charitable Choice, The Patriot Act and so on.

I spent much of the last 2 years wondering how and why. The above list makes it all much more clear. Our government has in fact been taken over by a right-wing cabal in a silent coup. That of course is frightening in and of it self. But since it has happened within the confines of our Constitutional and legal framework, it should be limited and some day soon come to an end. All we have to do is vote the current administration out of office and the cabal will follow. Right? Wrong!

Take a very close look at the list of Society members in the Administration. The first thing you should notice is they are all attorneys. This is the case because the whole point of the Federalist Society is to change our governmental system by changing our laws. They intend to make their coup stick by codifying it in to our legal system. But that still isn't good enough. The real possibility exists that the courts can overturn their gains, hence the last section of the list. The Bush administration has made 11 nominations to the Federal Courts, by looking at the list you can see 9 of those nominees are associated with the Federalist Society. Stacking the courts with Society members insures the legal reforms the Society will enact and already has enacted will remain in force long after the current administration is gone. Do you think it can't be done? Well consider this. There are currently more than 100 open benches in the Federal Courts. Most of those result from the Republican Parties refusal to consider Clintons Judicial nominees during his last 2 years in office. Further it is considered very likely that Bush will get to make at least one if not two appointments to the Supreme Court. All that is needed to tip the Court over to the conservative side is one seat.
We've spent the last several years so damn engrossed in the financial shenanigans and sexual improprieties of Bill Clinton we failed to notice the threat to our civil liberties and way of life that was sneaking in right under our noses.
Oh, and by the way, Kenneth Starr, the independent council who hounded Bill Clinton through out most of his administration, is also a Federalist Society member."

[shelley806]

36. Kicked, nominated, and added a Google link...PNAC and Federalist

Society.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Federalist+Society+PNAC&btnG=Google+Search

:kick:

[jarnocan]

42. wow so much stuff going on-THANKS!

my head is spinning.... I absolutely hate that even some moveon members just shugged their sholders and said oh well. Our petiton drive went bust, after our 'leader' poopooed the whole idea.
Book marked the google page, will explore and link...

[stepnw1f]

37. The Propaganda Machine

The Neoconservatives use a multiplicity of propaganda tools and perhaps one of the most potent is the "political" foundation masquerading as an institution of learning.

It is noteworthy that in the United States of America, there is more use of academic titles outside the groves of academia.  While in England, no politician with a PhD would dream of using his academic title and asking people to call him "Doctor", for fear that he would be taken to be a medical practitioner, the US practice inclines more to the Germanic.  Prominent figures in the Administration use and expect to be called by their academic titles, for example "Dr Condoleeza Rice", whom we have observed looking quite miffed when in Europe she is referred to as "Mrs Rice".

Many of the 'political' foundations or 'think tanks' are in reality parking places for administration officials when their party is out of office, but while at one time well-established research institutions were broadly a-political, there are now avowedly political institutions which pump out partisan propaganda - yet still manage to enjoy tax exempt status.


http://www.eurolegal.org/neocons/usneocon2.htm

[norml]

38. Recommended

Good stuff!

[sam sarrha]

43. he was deeply involved in Iran Contra.. they wont give up any files for

those years

[Angry Girl]

45. Some things about the Federalist Society (and then some....)

The Institute for Democracy Studies, which says it examines "anti-democratic religious and political movements and organizations," calls the society part of "the infrastructure underlying the right-wing assault on the democratic foundations of our legal system."
<...>
"As we try to monitor the legal DNA of President Bush's nominees, we find repeatedly the Federalist Society chromosome," Durbin said at a 2003 hearing. "Why is it that membership in the Federalist Society has become the secret handshake of the Bush nominees for the federal court?"

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/12158910.htm

More about the GOP and their Ties to the Religious Right
http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=59

Many articles on the rise of dominionisn in U.S. Politics
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/DirectoryRiseOfDominionismInAmerica.html