He's got 25 names. In the last 10 years, big business interests have spent millions to shift the Wisconsin Supreme Court to the right. And if Trump has his way, he wants this judge to be on the bench for 40 or 45 years. Justice Stephen Markman, who was appointed to the Michigan high court in 1999, was an early leader in the Washington, D.C. chapter. Nationally and in Wisconsin they have become activists and super legislators. For years, the Texas Supreme Court has been one of the most conservative high courts in the country. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Walker filled the seats with two appointeeswho had led the Milwau… This astonishing feat, along with hundreds more conservative appointments to the lower federal courts, should leave Americans worrying about what rights are in danger of being taken from them. When Phoenix prosecutor Bill Montgomery applied for a seat on the high court, the commission found that he was unqualified and could be perceived as biased. Four black judges applied for the two slows, but they weren’t Federalist Society members and weren’t on the JNC’s list of potential appointees. JCN and the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), which JCN funds, have dominated recent supreme court elections in Arkansas, Wisconsin, and other states. The next most important segment of the judiciary — the federal appeals courts — is also filling up with Federalist Society members: Twenty-five of the 30 appeals court judges … Ducey then transformed the nominating commission by ignoring the requirements of the Arizona Constitution, which establishes a commission with 16 members. After a Democratic sweep of judicial elections in Houston last year, Gov. Judge Justin Walker joined a bevy of judges, many appointees of the president, in railing against an ethics proposal on the Federalist Society. Judge Justin Walker joined a bevy of judges, many appointees of the president, in railing against an ethics proposal on the Federalist Society. He filled the seats with two former leaders in the Federalist Society and gave Republican-appointed justices a new majority. In neighboring Oklahoma, the Tulsa chapter of the Federalist Society is hosting a discussion soon about choosing judges in that state. All of Trump's 11 judges are listed as affiliated with the Federalist Society on the influential conservative legal group's website. The president said the 20 new names are being added to his previous list of 25 judges. Legislators then introduced a bill to amend the constitution and end judicial elections. Ducey spoke at a Federalist Society event earlier this year and said, “The Federalist Society has now fixed the judicial branch.”. in 1989. One author of the 2006 piece, Ryan Teague, now serves on the governor’s judicial nominating commission. Like justices in Ohio, some of the justices elected with help from business groups would later attend Federalist Society events. Montgomery had a record of discriminating against LGBTQ people and blocking criminal justice reforms. “Almost all of the Bush administration lawyers responsible for its war and torture memos are members of the Federalist Society. (previous page) () One of these groups made a secret $1 million donation to Trump’s inauguration. And so that list is in many ways a product of the Federal Society and its network. Whitehouse adds: “What’s really weird is that through this Federalist Society vehicle, big special interests are picking federal judges.” Senator Whitehouse warns: “Within the Federalist Society, is an operation funded by dark money and designed to remake our judiciary on behalf of a distinct group of very wealthy anonymous funders. An editorial in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel bemoaned the lack of diversity among the governor’s appointees. Like justices in Ohio, some of the justices elected with help from business groups would later attend Federalist Society events. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. Republican Gov. It says judges should “say what the law is, not what it should be.”, As a nonprofit organization, the Federalist Society doesn’t disclose its donors, but it has acknowledged receiving money from the Koch brothers and some of the largest corporations in the country. KELLY: Leo in interviews has said the president called and asked him for a list, asked him to come up with this. By leaving several seats are vacant, Ducey has stacked the commission, and more than two-thirds of the commissioners are now Republicans. The president inherited more than 100 empty seats that Republican senators refused to fill with Obama’s nominees. Florida Gov. It’s already happening at the state level  |, Election Day could mean big changes for Southern courts  |, N.C. Supreme Court strikes down bill that would have sent four people to death row  |, Courts strike down time limits for injured patients & workers, Five courts block “vaping” bans issued in wake of deaths. Greg Abbott (a former supreme court justice) proposed changing how judges are chosen. Ron DeSantis was sworn in this year, he had three empty seats to fill on the Florida Supreme Court. ... on the Trump administration's judicial selection process along with Federalist Society … where precisely they stand with the president and his Federalist Society allies. Soon, the court will decide whether to approve proposed constitutional amendments to raise the minimum wage, legalize marijuana, ban assault rifles, and more. The new commission approved Montgomery, and Ducey appointed him. Some, like Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who has suggested that Roe v. Wade was “an erroneous decision,” are now on Trump’s shortlist for a Supreme Court seat. Five Supreme Court justices have benefited from Federalist Society membership: Gorsuch, Alito, Roberts, Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, on Wednesday pushed D.C. A draft advisory opinion from the Judicial Conference's Committee on Codes of Conduct says federal judges should not be members of the Federalist Society or the American Constitution Society … Some, like Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who has suggested that Roe v. Wade was “an erroneous decision,” are now … Trump has appointed former justices linked to the Federalist Society to important seats on the federal courts. Professor Hollis-Brusky, welcome. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Amanda Hollis-Brusky, author of Ideas with Consequences: The Federalist Society and the Conservative Counterrevolution. They were largely fed to him by The Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization that has been hugely invested in putting its members onto appeals courts and the Supreme Court. The Federalist Society’s influence is … Three appeals court judges who are considered top contenders—Thomas Hardiman, William Pryor, and Neil Gorsuch—are Federalist Society members who regularly speak at society events. The conservative court recently threw out a lawsuit over the 2018 election for Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor, which mysteriously had 140,000 fewer votes than other races on the ballot. The commission is also supposed to reflect the diversity of the state, which is nearly evenly divided between Republicans, Democrats, and independents. Governors in other states have also drawn their nominees from local chapters of the Federalist Society, which is part of a network of nonprofits that fund Leo’s efforts to reshape the courts. The Federalist Society has long been used by GOP presidents as a resource to nominate judges. Trump’s judges are relatively young, meaning they will preside over the country for decades to come. HOLLIS-BRUSKY: A lot of Scalia's ideas in writing about originalism and original meaning became deeply ingrained into the kind of founding consciousness of the Federal Society. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The Federalist Society is not mentioned by name, but the opinion is directed to the propriety of participation by judges in programs or membership in groups engaged in public-policy debates. There are Federalist Society … The court’s new majority rules reliably in favor of big business. And so as they're walking through this list of nominees, they're of course taking into consideration politics, which senators are more or less likely to vote for particular nominees. And so they decide that they need to found an organization, a club that would bring conservative and libertarian voices, scholars and perspectives into their law schools. A law professor on the panel said that if the state wants more conservative state courts, it should change from partisan judicial elections to a system where the governor appoint judges, subject to confirmation by the senate. You have a small group of law students at elite law schools who are conservative and libertarian-leaning. What role did the Federalist Society play in shaping that list? I think the list is very outstanding. In sum, the Committee advises that formal affiliation with the ACS or the Federalist Society, whether as a member or in a leadership role, is inconsistent with Canons 1, 2, 4, and 5 of the Code [of Judicial Conduct]. Paul Begala writes that shadowy corporate interests are the winners in the Barrett selection because she has been part of The Federalist Society. The voters’ lawyer had argued that statistical evidence suggests there was “a 99.99 percent chance” that the vote count was wrong. There are no Democrats on the commission. KELLY: Glad to have you with us. All rights reserved. KELLY: That's Pomona College professor Amanda Hollis-Brusky. KELLY: Do we have any way of knowing how they may be seeking to exert influence on the pick, on who might rise to the top of this list of 25 names? The governors of Arizona and Georgia filled empty seats on their supreme courts with conservative justices linked to the Federalist Society, after their legislatures passed what were perceived as court packing bills. where precisely they stand with the president and his Federalist Society allies. Justice Rebecca Bradley called people suffering from AIDS “degenerates” and used an anti-LGBTQ slur in columns she wrote in college. Scott explains that the nearly 40-year-old Federalist Society “was established in response to the increasingly left-wing bias of the American Bar Association.” Like its counterpart, the Federalist Society holds conferences. A Republican legislator who backed the bill admitted that he wouldn’t have expanded the court if a Democrat was governor. KELLY: And interestingly, you write one of their earliest faculty mentors that they brought in was Antonin Scalia. Oklahoma justices are appointed by the governor, who picks from a list composed by a merit selection commission. He's going to find his next Supreme Court nominee from that list. The Fifth Circuit may be the most conservative court in the country, and the court could soon strike down the entire Affordable Care Act. A native of Houston, Texas, O'Connor graduated from the University of Houston with his bachelor's degree in 1986 and from South Texas College of Law with his J.D. The justices in Indiana and Tennessee do not seem to be as heavily involved. It is unusual for a presidential candidate to release names of potential Supreme Court or Cabinet nominees before winning an election. The court could soon overrule decades of precedent to slash the Democratic governor’s authority over state spending. Unlike most of the conservative justices, Hagedorn didn’t have the support of the local big business groups that often spend big in high court elections. And the organization really grew up as a organization that promoted Antonin Scalia's conservative judicial philosophy. in 1989. Bush and George W. Bush was either a member or approved by members of the Society. All of them were active in the Federalist Society. None of these groups, however, have anywhere near the breadth of ambition of the Federalist Society, which both builds a roster of prospective conservative judges … Start by telling me, where did this group begin? AMANDA HOLLIS-BRUSKY: Thank you for having me. The list tells any ambitious young judge or politician or Justice Department employee (we see you, Steven Engel!) All three of Trump’s Supreme Court picks are Federalist Society members. The governor’s high court recently ruled that businesses in Arizona have a right under the state constitution to discriminate against LGBTQ people, a right that trumps the city of Phoenix’s law prohibiting discrimination. The potential nominees were interviewed at the state capitol by Leonard Leo, leader of the conservative Federalist Society and an adviser to President Donald Trump on judicial nominees. Michael Brennan, the head of Walker’s advisory committee on nominations, is the founder of the Milwaukee Federalist Society chapter, according to Molly Beck of Wisconsin State Journal. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have a very excellent list of great, talented, highly educated, highly intelligent, hopefully tremendous people. Now, of the 25 people on Trump’s Supreme Court list, all but one are Federalist Society members or affiliates. Pages in category "Federalist Society members" The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 289 total. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse recently filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that said, “Leo has been linked to a million-dollar contribution to the NRA’s lobbying arm, and to a $250 million network largely funded by anonymous donors to promote right-wing causes and judicial nominees.”. He joined the court in 2007 after being nominated by President George W. Bush. The Federalist Society has long been used by GOP presidents as a resource to nominate judges. Scott Walker’s administration, two conservative justices retired. Trump has appointed three Texas Supreme Court justices to the Fifth U.S. AD There was a Washington Post article by a former judge who said the Federalist Society should be a no-go zone for federal judges, to which Meyer again responded, "That's ludicrous." The Federalist Society recruits and promotes right-wing judges with views previously on the fringes of legal thought, like the idea that corporations can have rights to speech and religious beliefs and that women and the LGBTQ community aren’t “protected classes” under constitutional law. KELLY: Now, this list includes judges who have been handpicked by a group of conservative lawyers called the Federalist Society. The appointees also had a history of controversial statements that raised questions about bias. Thomas P. Barber (judge) Randy Barnett; Amy Coney Barrett; Paul M. Bator; William Baude; Benjamin J. Beaton; Mark J. Bennett; Wendy Williams Berger; Joseph F. Bianco; Stephanos Bibas; Jimmy Blacklock; Josh Blackman; Keith R. Blackwell; Jane Bland; Michael S. Bogren; Robert Bork; J. P. 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