Justice Samuel Alito received a long, thunderous ovation Thursday night from a crowd of 2,000 people, most in tuxedos and gowns, when another speaker praised his June opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, a longtime goal of the justices conservatives. At a time when polls show Americans believe the court is becoming more political and give it dismal approval ratings, the justices turned out to celebrate the group that helped then-President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans move the American judiciary, including the Supreme Court. , right. The Federalist Society is non-partisan and does not take a position on election campaigns, but is closely aligned with Republican priorities, including the effort to overturn Roe. Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Alito offered brief remarks that strayed from the court’s work, though Alito praised the Feds for its success in the Trump years and hoped it would continue. “Boy, your work is needed today,” he said. Barrett’s only hint of the abortion cause came when she responded to the crowd’s roar of approval when she was introduced. “It’s really nice to have a lot of noise that isn’t being made by protesters outside my house,” he said. Amid heavy security, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh were also present in the main hall of Washington’s Union Station, where the silhouette of James Madison, the group’s logo, was projected on the walls. Justice Clarence Thomas, the other member of the majority in the abortion cases, was not at the dinner. Norm Eisen, an ethics expert who served in the Obama administration and later helped draft the articles of impeachment against Trump for his first impeachment in 2019, said the justices showed a brazen disregard for moral appearances because the agency’s mission is to move the law conservative direction. “Although there is no legal bar to them appearing at the Federated Society dinner, the appearances are awful,” Eisen wrote in an email. But Stephen Gillers, an expert on judicial ethics at New York University’s law school, said neither the ethics nor the visuals of the judges’ presence troubled him. “It is not a political organization. He does not appear before the Court. It can reasonably attest to a serious commitment to the intellectual development of the law. The fact that it is associated with certain views does not change that. I would say the same about the American Constitution Society,” Gillers wrote in an email, referring to a liberal legal group. Conservative judges have a long history of speaking at the organization’s annual meeting in Washington. Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016, spoke on several occasions, as did Thomas and Alito. Gorsuch appeared at the dinner when he was new to the court in 2017, hugging Leonard Leo, the co-chairman of the society that helped Trump vet judicial nominees. Kavanaugh made remarks in 2019. Fifteen other Trump-picked appeals court judges are also on the schedule for the three-day conference in the nation’s capital. The conference opened Thursday with a speech by Chief Judge William Pryor of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit mocking the group’s liberal critics and praising the group, which he said now has 65,000 members and chapters in 200 law schools. “After 40 years, I decided it was time to dig deeper and investigate this mysterious and secretive network that critics charge has taken over the federal judiciary, including the United States Supreme Court,” Pryor said. Pryor authored the 11th Circuit opinion that sided with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in ruling that felons must pay all fines, restitution and legal fees before they can regain their right to vote. The ruling overturned a ruling that gave felons the right to vote regardless of outstanding legal obligations. Joining Pryor in forming a 6-4 majority were five Trump appointees. Three of those judges, Lisa Branch, Britt Grant and Kevin Newsom, are also attending the conference in Washington. The Federalist Society started in elite law schools when Ronald Reagan was in the White House. It was designed as a way to counter what its members saw as liberal dominance in the nation’s law school faculties. His influence became apparent during George W. Bush’s presidency, when his leaders helped rally support for Senate confirmation of Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts, now seen by some critics as insufficiently conservative. The group was so successful that it spawned copycat liberal organizations. During Barack Obama’s presidency, the group provided a forum for opponents of Obama’s courts and policies. Some of its leaders supported then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s refusal to act on Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland after Scalia’s death in February 2016. That political strategy paid unexpected and huge dividends. to conservatives with the election of Trump, leading to the endorsement of Gorshus. McConnell was also present Thursday, Leo said. The Trump years in the White House brought the team to a new level. “Our movement has grown by leaps and bounds and so has our impact,” Leo said Thursday night. In 2017, then-White House counsel Don McGahn responded to criticism of the Fed’s influence over the Trump administration. “Our opponents of judicial nominees often claim that the president has outsourced his judicial selection. This is completely false. I’ve been a member of the Federal Society since law school — still am. So, frankly, it looks like it’s been sourced,” McGahn said at the team’s conference call. On a more serious note, he said, “The fact is that we all share the same vision for the judicial role and we welcome input from many sources.”
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