Process
Status Items Highlights Done See section below Claims None Questions None Output None
Highlights
Time 0:04:41
Need for Ideological Judges
- The master planners recognized that winning elections and bringing lawsuits wasn’t enough; they needed to change the judges to advance their agenda.
- They required judges who were not just casually conservative but deeply inculcated ideologues.
- These judges would be guaranteed to deliver rulings favorable to big business and deregulation.
- The goal was to install judicial picks ready to act when a seat opened up. Transcript: Speaker 1 I’m playing it because it gives a nod to the master planner’s big problem at this particular moment. They knew it wasn’t enough to just win legislative elections or bring lawsuits. They knew they had to change the judges or their agenda was doomed. They needed judges who weren’t casually conservative. They had to install inculcated ideologues on the bench, who would be guaranteed to deliver the rulings they want. Rulings that help big business, disempower workers, and, of course, deregulate the campaign finance system. And they needed to be ready to
Time 0:11:20
Avoiding Future ‘Suitors’
- Conservatives in the early 2000s were traumatized by Republican appointees who betrayed their cause.
- They wanted to ensure that future Supreme Court appointments would be ‘sure things’ and reliably conservative.
- This became a major priority for the conservative legal movement.
- Lewis Powell’s memo from 1971 guided conservative activists to recognize that ‘the judiciary may be the most important instrument for social, economic and political change’.
- In response, the activists spent the 1980s and 1990s building a formidable network of well-funded think tanks and academic institutions.
- This infrastructure helped to develop and promote conservative legal talent. Transcript: Speaker 1 He says th particularly traumatized b who betrayed the cause by positions that supported s rights and campaign financ early 2000s conservatives suitors. We don’t want to appoint anyone other than sure things, sure conservative votes to the Supreme Court, and that was a major, major priority. No more suitors. Okay, well, that sounds catchy and all, but how exactly do you prevent future suitors? How do you start installing people like Roberts, a conservative lawyer who seemed to be really frustrated with the situation? On the surface, Roberts warped speed ascent from corporate lawyer in 2000 to Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 2005. That might seem like a random fluke or an overnight success. But as listeners probably know by now, in this story, nothing is random. There was a plan that started decades earlier. Let’s remember the Powell memo from 1971. The judiciary may be the most important instrument for social, economic and political change. Following the memo’s guidance, conservative activists spent the 1980s and 1990s building a formidable network of well-funded think tanks and academic institutions.
Time 0:12:50
Federalist Society Rise
- The Federalist Society became significant in the legal sphere after starting as a college campus-based legal organization nurturing conservative law students.
- It championed philosophies like constitutional originalism, initially considered far-right nonsense.
- As the Federalist Society built chapters nationwide, their legal theories were championed by Republican politicians.
- Reagan recognized the Federalist Society’s impact, moving beyond a simple debate club.
- The group was funded by master planners like John Merrill Olin, Richard Mellon Scafe, and the Koch brothers, who took seriously the Powell memo.
- They aimed to build a counterforce of smart, young minds to fight for free enterprise. Transcript: Speaker 1 One of those institutions would become extremely significant in the legal sphere, a group that’s been the news a lot lately, the Federalist Society. Speaker 2 Thank you very much. Speaker 1 This is Ronald Reagan in 1988 speaking to the Federalist Society. The group first emerged as a college campus-based legal organization nurturing conservative law students. The group championed philosophies like constitutional originalism that in the early 1980s was basically written as far-right nonsense within legal academia. But as the Federalist Society built hundreds of chapters at law schools around the country, their once-fringe legal theories were soon championed and mainstreamed by Republican Politicians. How far we’ve come these last eight years, not only in transforming the operations of government, not only in transforming the departments and agencies and even the federal judiciary, But also in changing the terms of national debate. And nowhere is that change more evident than in the rise of the Federalist Society on the campuses of America’s law schools. Reagan understood that the Federalist Society wasn’t just some kooky, low-budget, campus debate club. This was a group funded by master planners that we’ve mentioned before. John Merrill Olin, Richard Mellon Scafe, and the Koch brothers. They took seriously the Powell memos called to build a counterforce of smart young minds who could fight on behalf of free enterprise.
Time 0:20:29
Building a Conservative Judicial Machine
- Leonard Leo was profoundly affected by Thomas’s brutal confirmation process and joined the Federalist Society to expand its influence on the judiciary.
- Leo focused on recruiting and nurturing lawyers to create a ‘conservative judicial machine’.
- This involved moving law students through campus chapters and lawyers’ chapters.
- The aim was to provide a supportive community to foster the application of conservative principles.
- Young conservative lawyers were strategically placed in clerkships, law firms, and think tanks, ready for government positions when Republicans regained power. Transcript: Speaker 1 Thomas’s brutal confirmation process left an indelible mark on Leo. He immediately took a job with the Federalist Society to expand its assault on the judiciary. He focused on recruiting and nurturing lawyers for the conservative judicial machine. I like to imagine a factory assembly line, like in the movie Terminator. This factory was cranking out these conservative robots who could pass regular humans during confirmation hearings, but who would never deviate from their ideological programming Once they’re on the court. Here’s Leo describing that assembly line in a Federalist Society video. Speaker 2 We start with young, talented law students, move them through our campus chapters, integrate them into our lawyers chapters around the country upon graduation, and provide a community That’s the backbone for finding opportunities to foster the application of our principles. Speaker 1 Emboldened after successfully installing Thomas on the High Court, conservatives eyed new opportunities to install more Republican judicial nominees on the lower courts. But Democrats, who controlled the Senate at the time, seemed to realize how ridiculous they looked in letting Thomas get on the High Court. So they put their foot down. They halted almost all of Bush Sr.’s other nominees in 1992, including a young John Roberts, whose first nomination for a judgeship didn’t even get a hearing. And then, later that year, Bill Clinton unseated Bush in the 1992 election, so the conservative legal movement played defense and began working with Senate Republicans to block the New Democratic president’s judicial nominees, while also moving young conservative lawyers into prominent clerkships, jobs at big DC law firms, and conservative think tanks. All of them poised to fill top government positions as soon as Republicans won another presidential election and retook the
Time 0:26:58
Disempowering the ABA
- After Bush was sworn in, the master planners began to work.
- Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society aimed to dominate judicial candidate selection.
- The White House stopped giving the American Bar Association advanced notice of potential nominees.
- This was a long-term goal of the conservative legal movement after the ABA declined to endorse Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination. Transcript: Speaker 1 Once Bush was sworn in in January 2001, the master planners got to work. Federalist Society Vice President Leonard Leo focused on making sure that he and his fellow conservatives would be the loudest voices in the room when it came to choosing judges. After 50 years of special status, the American Bar Association will no longer have a leading role in vetting candidates for federal judgeships. The White House notified the ABA today that it will no longer get advanced word on prospective nominees. Disempowering the American Bar Association
Time 0:41:10
Federalist Society’s Influence
- Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society publicly insisted they had no political power, acting as a friendly debate club.
- Leo claimed the society doesn’t recommend nominees for public office and leaves political agendas to others.
- However, emails reveal a different story with Leo on the White House speed dial for judicial nominations.
- Kavanaugh was in regular contact with Leo and other conservative legal activists. Transcript: Speaker 1 Now officially, Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society were still insisting that there was nothing to see here, that they basically had no political power and they’re just a friendly Debate club. Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly. In early 2001, Leo actually wrote a letter to White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez saying just that. He stated, quote, the Federalist Society leaves political agendas and political advocacy to other groups and individuals. And he emphasized that the organization, quote, does not recommend nominees or candidates for public office. While acknowledging that Federalist Society members, quote, often have tried to provide lists of people worth considering, Leo made it clear that they’re speaking for themselves, Not the society. Speaker 1 But the emails we reviewed tell a different story, right? Speaker 2 Yeah, I’d say they tell the opposite story. From the get-go, Leo seemed to be on the White House speed dial, and all over White House officials’ correspondence about judicial nominations.