The Federalist Society - 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.
Were I a judge I would join the liberal American Constitution Society. I would see as my objective to defeat the judicial philosophy associated with the Federalist Society - an organization with a mission, generally hostile to the administrative state, yet `pro' executive power, and sharply disfavoring social democracy.
Judicial independence means freedom from the dictates of the one who brought you to the dance; freedom to follow the logic of the law as you understand it. Should judges - after appointment - align themselves with the ones that brung em? Yes in my view.
Judicial independence does not mean absence of ideology. A judicial philosophy is inherently wrapped up with a moral visions, and a political philosophy. Since political parties usually have soem ideological coherence that will mean an intellectual alliance with a political party in cases which visions are ideologically divided.
Justice, in my view, is aligned with natural law - the basics of a just human society. One cannot honestly claim neutrality in what constitutes justice. - GWC
Federalist Society Blocks Basic Judicial Ethics Rule
In a case of life imitating art, this is just what a committee of 15 federal judges, all appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts, did when confronted with a serious ethical issue that has long-term consequences to the integrity of the judiciary.
The Codes of Conduct Committee is charged with providing ethical guidance to federal judges. Public respect for the integrity of the judiciary provides the moral authority to resolve disputes and enforce compliance with court decisions. The all-important reputation for judicial integrity is easily damaged by public perception that a judge is less than fair or is overtly political. Hence, the Codes of Conduct bar judicial political activity.
In 2018, the committee issued Opinion 116, which formally advised judges of something the public already knows—that “political activity” is more than self-labeling as a Democrat or Republican. The committee advised judges to stay away from organizations that: (1) are associated with “hot button” political issues, or as perceived by the public as having adopted a consistent political or ideological point of view equivalent to the type of partisanship found in political organizations; and/or (2) are funded by dark money or sources affiliated with politically involved organizations. Opinion 116 did not identify any specific organization by name.
This past January, the committee released Draft Opinion 117 for comment by federal judges. This was little more than a natural evolution of Opinion 116, except it named specific organizations. The draft dealt with membership in the Federalist Society; its liberal counterpart, the American Constitution Society; and the American Bar Association. The draft specially barred judges from membership in the Federalist Society and the ACS.
In response to Draft Opinion 117, the Federalist Society launched an assault to discredit the committee’s work. In addition to the usual conservative media suspects, the Federalist Society got Justice Clarence Thomas to jump in and mobilized its allies in Congress to put pressure on the committee. It submitted a letter rubber-stamped by about 200 federal judges, primarily but not exclusively members of the Federalist Society and most of whom owed their recent appointment to the federal bench to membership in the Federalist Society. The Federalist Society is not a political organization, it claims, because it does not take positions on legislation. Instead, it is merely a debating society.
Legislative advocacy, however, is not the test to define the propriety of judicial participation in organizations engaged in public policy debates, as set out in Opinion 116. Public perception of the organization is. This means that when a judge is a member of the Federalist Society, does the public think the judge is a Republican or a Democrat? A liberal or a conservative? An internet search of “Federalist Society” quickly identifies the political affiliation of the group. The committee also received a letter signed by 29 U.S. senators, blasting the draft and supporting the Federalist Society. Who would have guessed that none of these signers were Democrats? The committee and the Administrative Offices of the U.S. Courts were threatened with investigation by Rep. Jim Jordan—one of the most outspoken members of the conservative Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives—if the proposal was not withdrawn. To say that the Federalist Society is not a “political organization” as defined in Opinion 116 is to engage in willful blindness.
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