I watched Karl Rove give a speech to a gathering of Federalists lawyers yesterday on CSPAN. Harriet Meirs got a special acknowledgement from Rove. (I tried to find a link at CSPAN but it mustn’t be available yet).
It was disturbing in many ways. First, that Karl Rove spoke like he had no worries from Fitzgerald and the Plame leak; and it looked liked his ass was legally covered by the standing ovation he got at the end from hundreds of Federalist lawyers. So he’s a ‘free’ man.
But it made me curious about this so-called political group. (They say they are not partisan, I say BS)
What is The Federalist Party?
Who are they today?
The Federalist Society
The Conservative Cabal That’s Transforming American Law
Who are they?
With 25,000 members plus scores of close affiliates nationwide–including Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Antonin Scalia, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, and University of Chicago brain-boxes Richard Epstein and Frank Easterbrook (also a federal appellate judge)–the Federalist Society is quite simply the best-organized, best-funded, and most effective legal network operating in this country. Its rank-and-file include conservative lawyers, law students, law professors, bureaucrats, activists, and judges. They meet at law schools and function rooms across the country to discuss and debate the finer points of legal theory and substance on panels that often include liberals–providing friction, stimulus, and the illusion of balance. What gets less attention, however, is that the Society is accomplishing in the courts what Republicans can¹t achieve politically. There is nothing like the Federalist Society on the left.
You get an excellent fix on Federalist influence from studying a who¹s who of Federalist practice group leaders. These movers and shakers include:
€C. Boyden Gray–is chairman of Citizens for a Sound Economy, a conservative advocacy group. The Washington Post recently reported that Gray¹s organization has accepted millions of dollars to champion corporate causes, including payments from: affected sugar producers (to work against efforts to restore the Florida Everglades); Exxon (to fight against the campaign to reduce global warming); Philip Morris (to resist higher cigarette taxes); Microsoft (to weaken antitrust enforcement); and certain auto rental companies (to undermine Florida¹s tort laws). The peripatetic Federalist board member is a subcommittee chairman of the Society¹s Administrative Law and Regulation practice group.
€Manuel Klausner–is a litigator for the Individual Rights Foundation and was a lead attorney for Californians Against Discrimination and Preferences. Klausner successfully defended the constitutionality of Proposition 209 (California¹s anti-affirmative action statute) and has also worked to block benefits to illegal immigrants in California. Klausner is chairman of the Society¹s Free Speech and Elections practice group.
€Michael Rosner–is a litigator for the conservative Center for Individual Rights. Rosner collaborated with Klausner on Proposition 209. As defense attorney in a celebrated Virginia rape case, he recently used states rights to argue before the Supreme Court against the constitutionality of provisions of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. Rosner is a vice chairman of the Society¹s Civil Rights practice group.
€ Michael Carvin–is a founder and board member of the Center for Individual Rights. Carvin argued and won a recent Supreme Court voting rights case limiting the federal government¹s ability to protect minority voters in state and local elections. He has also worked on numerous anti-affirmative action cases. Carvin is chairman elect of the Society¹s Civil Rights practice group.
€ James Bopp–is general counsel to the National Right to Life Committee and legal counsel to the Christian Coalition. Bopp has led campaigns against the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill and legalized abortion. Bopp chairs a subcommittee within the Free Speech and Elections practice group.
€ Roger Clegg–is chief counsel for the conservative Center for Equal Opportunity. Clegg has labored to roll back affirmative action statutes, as well as bilingual education and immigrant rights. Clegg is a vice chairman of the Society¹s Civil Rights practice group.
They have weakened or rolled back statutes on civil rights and affirmative action; voting rights; women¹s rights and abortion rights; workers¹ rights; prisoners¹ rights; and the rights of consumers, the handicapped, and the elderly. Add to that the consequences of non-delegation if further extended. Regulatory oversight by federal agencies would then be kicked back to Congress and the states–like the power to preserve open pipelines in telecommunications, to regulate transportation, the drugs we take, the food we eat. Would we really want elected officials directly responsible for regulating industries that are also major sources of their campaign funds? That is very much a political question–one to which the Federalist Society¹s answer is unfortunately all too clear.
Get the picture? Don’t want to listen to me? Then read what Al Gore says about this cabal.
Al Gore Blasts GOP Attack on Democracy
I think I now understand why Bushco seems so ‘untouchable’ by all the illegal acts they are and have commited against the citizens of America. I picture them singing in the White House Halls, Hammer’s song “Can’t Touch This.”
