Liberal legal organization modeled on Federalist Society may influence "beyond its dreams"

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Legal Organization May Become Influential Beyond Its Dreams
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 7, 2008; Page A05

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy was founded seven years ago to counter a growing right-leaning legal philosophy that has reshaped the American legal landscape on issues from the reach of federal regulation to the separation of church and state. Now, as President-elect Barack Obama assembles his administration, the little-known legal organization stands on the brink of influence it once could only imagine.

Eric H. Holder Jr., an ACS board member, has been nominated to be attorney general. Executive Director Lisa Brown has been tapped to be White House staff secretary, a key slot that involves reviewing all documents that go before the president. Board member Teresa Wynn Roseborough has been prominently mentioned as a possibility for several jobs in the Obama administration, including solicitor general....

It is a remarkable turn for an organization born in the frustration that liberal legal thinkers shared over the Supreme Court's role in deciding George W. Bush's contested victory over Vice President Gore in 2000. Many of them saw in the high court's decision a need to counteract the growing influence of the conservative legal movement with a movement of their own.

"Over the past generation, the conservative movement has engineered a transformative revolution in our nation's jurisprudence," said Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen, an ACS board member who is working in the Obama transition. "Now a generation later, they have successfully changed the terms of legal debate and are moving America toward their radical end. The time is ripe to reverse this alarming trend."

Georgetown Law School professor Peter J. Rubin, who served as counsel to Gore in the legal battle over the 2000 election, founded the group in 2001. Rubin brought together a roster of prominent lawyers in an effort to foster new avenues of progressive legal thought. The group now claims 13,000 members in 195 chapters -- including 165 at the nation's law schools and 30 professional chapters....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/06/AR2008120601808.html?nav=most_emailed

[EconomicLiberal]

1. It's nice to see liberal think tanks popping up.

This is one area where the conservatives have owned us for 3 decades.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. I'm really gratified by this news! nt

[BrklynLiberal]

2. K&R

[silverweb]

4. About time!

Wonderful to see progress in this area. Finally!!

:kick:

[Lasher]

5. Hello ACSLP, goodbye American Enterprise Institute, et al.

There is surely wailing and gnashing of teeth at the Heritage Foundation. Time was when they could expect their editorials to be transformed directly into national policy. Now if they want someone to give them the time of day they'll have to call peers at the Hoover Institute or PNAC.

[xchrom]

6. recommend

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Oh noes! Another ACS! Chemists and Cetologists wince ... nt