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The Federalist Society: How Conservatives Took the Law Back from Liberals Hardcover – April 16, 2013

by Michael Avery (Author), Danielle McLaughlin (Author)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
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Over the last thirty years, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies has grown from a small group of disaffected conservative law students into an organization with extraordinary influence over American law and politics. Although the organization is unknown to the average citizen, this group of intellectuals has managed to monopolize the selection of federal judges, take over the Department of Justice, and control legal policy in the White House.

Today the Society claims that 45,000 conservative lawyers and law students are involved in its activities. Four Supreme Court Justices--Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito--are current or former members. Every single federal judge appointed in the two Bush presidencies was either a Society member or approved by members. During the Bush years, young Federalist Society lawyers dominated the legal staffs of the Justice Department and other important government agencies.

The Society has lawyer chapters in every major city in the United States and student chapters in every accredited law school. Its membership includes economic conservatives, social conservatives, Christian conservatives, and libertarians, who differ with each other on significant issues, but who cooperate in advancing a broad conservative agenda.

How did this happen? How did this group of conservatives succeed in moving their theories into the mainstream of legal thought?

What is the range of positions of those associated with the Federalist Society in areas of legal and political controversy? The authors survey these stances in separate chapters on

• regulation of business and private property
• race and gender discrimination and affirmative action
• personal sexual autonomy, including abortion and gay rights
• American exceptionalism and international law
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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vanderbilt University Press
  4. Publication date
    April 16, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    7.25 x 1.25 x 10 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    082651877X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0826518774
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"...it's possible, given the volume of information in this book, to reconstruct a thesis about why the Federalist Society was so effective in changing the legal debate in America. [...] With striking clairvoyance, it outlined an incrementalist strategy for narrowing the right to reproductive choice and predicted, accurately, that the expansive jurisprudence of personal autonomy, recognized in cases like Roe v. Wade, might eventually lead to the judicial recognition of gay marriage."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Michael Avery and Danielle McLaughlin have written a compelling book about how the Federalist Society came to prominence, its tremendous influence in Republican presidential administrations especially in the selection of judges, and its conservative ideology on major issues of constitutional law. It is a story of how ideas, money, and careful planning came together to change the legal landscape. This well-written book is a must read for all who want to understand the conservative movement in law, its views and those advancing them."
--Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Distinguished Professor, University of California, Irvine School of Law

"Avery and McLaughlin have written an important, highly informative book about the role of the Federalist Society in shaping jurisprudence and public policy over the last 30 years. [...] Recommended."
--Choice

"...illuminating and important..."
--Washington Independent Review of Books

"A compelling intellectual history of the rise of the powerful Federalist Society, this is a thoughtful recounting of all the ways in which the group has impacted and influenced legal doctrine, and a roadmap of what's to come should their ascendancy continue. Anyone who cares about the courts or the law will find The Federalist Society a stark reminder of the power of abstract ideas to effect real and lasting change for decades."
--Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor, Slate.com

"Fascinating, well-written and hard-hitting piece of writing underscoring the importance of the federal judiciary in our democracy. The politicization of the courts is a topic more relevant than ever in these partisan times, and Avery and McLaughlin's concise, incisive style does it justice."
--Nan Aron, President and Founder, Alliance for Justice

"Much of what The Federalist Society covers will be familiar to readers who closely follow law or politics, but even those readers will find value in its straightforward mix of history, case studies, and legal arguments. For others, it serves as an introduction to a long-term story that has slowly and quietly--but dramatically--changed the American legal system."
--Foreword

"...clear and engaging..."
--Los Angeles Review of Books

About the Author

Michael Avery is a Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School where he teaches constitutional law and evidence, is a former president of the National Lawyers Guild. From 1970 to 1998, he was in private practice, specializing in plaintiffs' civil rights litigation and criminal defense.

Danielle McLaughlin is a litigation associate in the Boston officers of Nixon Peabody LLP, where her practice focuses on commerical litigation and government investigations.  She clerked for the honorable William Young in the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and was the Editor-in-Chief of Suffolk University Law School's Journal of High Technology.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vanderbilt University Press; First Edition (April 16, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 082651877X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0826518774
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 1.25 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Michael Avery

    Michael Avery

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    Starting as an ACLU staff lawyer during the Black Panther murder trial in New Haven in 1970, Mike Avery enjoyed an exciting career as a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer. As a civil rights lawyer, he represented the victims of police abuse and racial and sexual discrimination. In criminal cases, he defended people charged with everything from peaceful protesting to murder. In San Juan he represented the Puerto Rican novelist Pedro Juan Soto to get justice for the murder of his son by police officers in the infamous Cerro Maravilla case. In Los Angeles, he represented a young Armenian-American charged in a plot to bomb the Turkish Consulate in Philadelphia. In Boston in 2007, working with a team of lawyers, he obtained the largest judgment ever awarded against the FBI, over one hundred million dollars, for the wrongful conviction of four innocent men for murder. His client, Peter Limone, had spent 33 years in prison for a murder of which he was innocent. The crime was actually committed by an FBI informant.

    Avery knows the law and the people who break it, including those who are supposed to enforce it. Politically active as well, he has served as the President of the National Lawyers Guild and was one of the founders of the National Police Accountability Project.

    Avery also enjoyed a 16-year career as a law professor at Suffolk Law School in Boston. He has published several non-fiction books, including The Federalist Society: How Conservatives Took the Law Back from Liberals, and We Dissent, Talking Back to the Rehnquist Court. He is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School and spent a year as an exchange student in the former Soviet Union at the University of Moscow. After retiring as a professor of law, he obtained a Master of Fine Arts from Bennington College. He writes the Susan Sorella Mystery Series. The Cooperating Witness was published in 2020 and the sequel Murder in Blue in 2023. More mysteries are forthcoming.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Danielle McLaughlin

    Danielle McLaughlin

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Danielle McLaughlin holds a degree in Engineering from the University of Auckland, New Zealand (1998) (Hons 2:2), and a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in Boston (2009), cum laude, Distinction in International Law, where she was the Editor in Chief of the Journal of High Technology Law. She clerked for the Honorable William Young in The Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and is currently a Senior Associate in the New York City office of Nixon Peabody LLP, where she specializes in commercial litigation and government investigations. Prior to practicing law, she worked as a consulting engineer in Auckland, New Zealand, and in marketing and corporate communications in London, England and Vail, Colorado.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Brendan Hall
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and incredibly well written
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2013
Verified Purchase
The Federalist Society shines a much needed light on the activities of a very powerful organization that has flown under the relative radar for over three decades. Great read for anyone interested in the American poitical landscape.
11 people found this helpful
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Brian A. Robideau
4.0 out of 5 stars Fair and Balanced review of a judicial coup.
Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2013
Verified Purchase
This book lays bare Hillary Clinton's "vast right wing conspiracy" as it influences one of the most important functions of our government. Progressives, Liberals and Rights voters will be appalled at the undemocratic bent of the cabal that has taken over our courts. Radical conservatives will chear. The book does a fair and balanced review of the people and organizations that have pulled off this revolutionary dismemberment of the living US Constitution.
13 people found this helpful
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tricia
5.0 out of 5 stars Great subject matter!
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2013
Verified Purchase
I am fond of this author's writing's, so I am very much looking forward to reading this book. I hope it is quite detailed.
2 people found this helpful
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Trisha
2.0 out of 5 stars No dust jacket
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2020
Verified Purchase
Good book, it's in hardback, but no dust jacket...wouldn't buy at the store this way. With that being said I'd rethink this purchase.
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Eros Faust
1.0 out of 5 stars The More You Know The Less You'll Like This Book
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2013
Verified Purchase
I read the 20 page introduction with great hope that what would come later would be as objective as those first 20 pages were. However, those hopes were dashed in Chapter 1 as the book degenerated into a diatribe about how politics should have no role in hiring in government, and how the recommendations of the ABA represent a gold standard in judging the suitability of judicial appointments. The more you know about the ABA the more you understand how political it is and the less you can trust the rants which fill that chapter.

Chapter 2 is slanted in a different direction. Instead of ranting about the Takings Clause, the Chapter instead focuses on a single scholar-Professor Richard Epstein. Epstein was the Dean at the University of Chicago Law School while then young lawyer Barack Obama claimed he was a "professor of Constitutional Law" there. Epstein embarrassed both Obama and his supporters by pointing out that now President Obama was never a "professor" at all, and that he never taught "Constitutional Law." ABA rules, in fact, prohibit a non-professor from teaching core courses like Constitutional Law. Obama's position was closer to that of a adjunct professor teaching a specialized course in civil rights. While a course in civil rights might include Supreme Court cases, so would a course in Anti-Trust or Securities Regulation. That doesn't make instructors in those courses "professors of Constitutional Law" either.

Having embarrassed President Obama with the truth, the authors set out to embarrass Epstein by inaccurately characterizing his scholarship on the Takings Clause. Epstein is a sort of pragmatic libertarian who himself frequently criticizes "small-government libertarians" who he alternatively refers to with the adjectives "stark," "die-hard"' "pure", "restrictive"," or "strong," and as being unwilling to accept "forced exchanges" in return for some kind of "just compensation."

The authors then pillory Epstein as a symbol of The Federalist Society--a sort of trial by innuendo.

I won't go on because there is little redeeming character remaining in this book, except for those who know little. However, the more you know, the less you'll accept what you read here after page 21.
17 people found this helpful
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Hazel
5.0 out of 5 stars Descent into American Conservatism
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2013
THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY: HOW CONSERVATIVES TOOK BACK THE LAW FROM LIBERALS by Michael Avery and Danielle McLaughlin explores how and why the Federalist Society was founded, developed and funded. Professor Avery teaches at Suffolk University Law School and has been a civil rights attorney and former president of the National Lawyers Guild. Ms. McLaughlin is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and is currently a litigation associate at Nixon Peabody in Boston.

With chapters on every law school campus, the Federalist Society is churning out a stream of disciplined lawyers who will dismantle regulation and consequently dismember government from within and without. It's a sobering book, acutely but readably written. This is an important read for anyone interested in politics, law and the future of the American democratic experiment. Its sharp and exacting critique of progressive philanthropy should instigate serious reconsideration of how liberal funders operate, especially in the areas of racial, social, gender, consumer, criminal and environmental justice.

In researching the funding that allowed the Federalist Society to grow so effectively, the authors note that most of its foundation support was in the form of unrestricted rather than program grants. Its five largest funders, which include the Olin Foundation and foundations operated by the Koch brothers, contributed $17.3 million in grants to the Federalist Society, of which $11.6 million was unrestricted. Among liberal funders there is a preference for program grants with specific quantifiable short term and long term goals that must be reached in order to qualify for the next year's funding. Many liberal foundations do not offer grants for more than a year, or three at the most. They want their name and logo associated with innovation. Not so for the patient philanthropy of the conservative far right. Conservatives not only give, but they trust the organizations' staffs to use the money wisely. And as anyone who has seen the conservative takeover of the courts in the last thirty years knows, that patience has paid off.

Professor Avery and Ms. McLaughlin demonstrate the Federalist Society's efficacy by tracing the decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court, which now has four justices--Chief Justice John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas--who are in ideological agreement with the Society. They are frequent speakers there, too. The book is divided into subject matter chapters: regulation of private property with a focus on the takings and compensation clauses; access to justice seen through a lens of regulation of private property; race and gender discrimination; personal sexual autonomy; and American exceptionalism and international law. In each of these chapters, the role of the Federalist Society in influencing the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court is documented, the systematic and often disingenuous reasoning of judicial decisions explained, and the somewhat steady dissolution of precedent and invalidation of federal legislation tracked. America is shedding its New Deal and Great Society heritage; American jurisprudence is no longer the bulwark for emerging democracies to emulate.

Like most persuasive narratives, where the story begins signifies its point. For Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, affirmative action is "patronizing indulgence," and consistent with Federalist Society analysis, racial resentment somehow began with affirmative action. Under whose history did affirmative action and its "badge of inferiority" begin with race as one factor of many in a holistic admissions review? Colorblindness in the Federalist Society sense ignores the legacy of slavery as it produced the privilege of whiteness, and all that it provides: access to higher quality public schools, better housing in safer neighborhoods that accelerate home equity growth, cleaner air and water, less crime, and the networks that offer jobs and amplify political voice. Within the Federalist Society these privileges are not the result of actionable racial discrimination. Racial inequality, according to conservatives, results from a cultural breakdown within the African American community that breeds crime and an inability to compete with whites. Since conservatives do not define racial discrimination as anything other than intentional, obstacles to opportunity like implicit bias and institutional racism are not even considered.

Avery and McLaughlin follow the placement of prominent members of the Federalist Society first into the Reagan administration and trace their ascendency as they go from government, no matter which party is in control of the White House and Congress, to advocacy groups, back into government and for too many, into the federal judiciary. The listing of Federalist Society members and its allies is chilling. Progressives have a lot to learn about how the Federalist Society has operated: opening chapters at every law school, providing budgets to lure hungry students with fancy food to hear conservative speakers, mentoring exceptional students into judicial clerkships and prized positions in government, and finally, as we have seen with Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justice Alito, onto the Supreme Court. The American Constitutional Society of Law and Policy (ACS) began as an antidote to the Federal Society after the 2000 presidential election, yet still does not have the reach in mentoring the next generation of judges and legislators or the efficacy the Federalist Society has achieved. I recommend this book because its tone is precise, thoughtful and fearless, prompting a re-evaluation of how we teach law, how we think about the role of government and how we fund social justice before it's too late for American democracy.
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