Ideas with Consequences: The Federalist Society and the Conservative Counterrevolution

Studies in Postwar American Political Development

by Amanda Hollis-Brusky

There are few intellectual movements in modern American political history more successful than the Federalist Society. Created in 1982 to counterbalance what its founders considered a liberal legal establishment, the organization gradually evolved into the conservative legal establishment, and membership is all but required for any conservative lawyer who hopes to enter politics or the judiciary. It claims 40,000 members, including four Supreme Court Justices, dozens of federal judges, and every Republican attorney general since its inception. But its power goes even deeper.

In Ideas with Consequences , Amanda Hollis-Brusky provides the first comprehensive account of how the Federalist Society exerts its influence. Drawing from a huge trove of documents, transcripts, and interviews, she explains how the Federalist Society managed to revolutionize the jurisprudence for a wide variety of important legal issues. Many of these issues-including the extent of federal government power, the scope of the right to bear arms, and the parameters of corporate political speech-had long been considered settled. But the Federalist Society was able to upend the existing conventional wisdom, promoting constitutional theories that had previously been dismissed as ludicrously radical. As Hollis-Brusky shows, the Federalist Society provided several of the crucial ingredients needed to accomplish this constitutional revolution. It serves as a credentialing institution for conservative lawyers and judges and legitimizes novel interpretations of the constitution that employ a
conservative framework. It also provides a judicial audience of like-minded peers, which prevents the well-documented phenomenon of conservative judges turning moderate after years on the bench. As a consequence, it is able to exercise enormous influence on important cases at every level.

A far-reaching analysis of some of the most controversial political and legal issues of our time, Ideas with Consequences is the essential guide to the Federalist Society at a time when its power has broader implications than ever.

Genres: Politics, Law, Nonfiction, History, American, Cultural, Legal

266 pages, Hardcover

First published December 29, 2014

Reviews

[Douglas Crockett · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's pretty clear the right wing plan to corrupt the federal court system is to work through the Federalist Society. They claim to be conservatives but in fact have a revolutionary agenda to change the Constitution in a way to have the country controlled by the very richest people. They use voluminous papers, letters, articles, etc. from and about the people who created the Constitution to show that the founders will agree with whatever proposition they have come up with to change the way the country is governed. It's pretty much like theologians using the Bible to prove whatever it is they want it to prove.

This book is politically neutral and endorsed by a number of right wing personalities such as Prof. Yoo famous in the Bush administration for endorsing the use of torture. If you read between the lines it's pretty clear the author understands exactly how the supposedly conservative Federalist Society is engaging in a revolutionary agenda. Highly recommended.

[Caitlin Gugliotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of date by this point, obviously, but the tenants of the book are still true. The supremacy of the Federalist Society and its ability to simply manufacture scholarship and “respectability” through nothing but its own network is more true now than ever. Anger.

[Fiona Brauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book clubbed with Peter. He liked the sociology bits and I liked the law bits, shockingly. I thought I was going to be more fired up by the book as a whole, but Hollis-Brusky really avoided any normative evaluations. Though at the end she touches on the current difficulties facing the ACS in matching the FedSoc's influence given the lack of singular constitutional interpretive theory on the left, in contrast with the absolute centrality of originalism to the right, which got me fired up in that now I think we should abolish the judiciary because its all hopeless.

[Josine · Rating 3 out of 5]

experts agree fed soc sucks

[Matthew Luttmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An academic perspective on the development and structure of the Federalist Society is the correct approach to a politically charged topic.

[Anya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting analysis, but read more like a research paper than a book.

[Abby Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5.

[Chris Torretta]

I so hoped this would be up my alley. I just recently started reading more about politics. Sadly, I'm not THIS much into it YET.

If you enjoy politics and reading about it, especially the beginnings of an idea, this is definitely for you!