You're So Special

Being a part of a club can be fun and exciting, especially when it's possible it could launch your career as a supreme court justice or something equally important. Welcome to the Federalist Society, a place where like-minded right wing/ultra conservative psychos can get together and stroke each other's egos...Or whatever else might require a good tug.


Founded by three law students in 1982 as a debating society, it now boasts a membership of more than 25,000 that includes prominent members of the Bush administration, the federal judiciary and Congress. Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members and other top Bush aides take regular turns at the society's podium.

While the society has no formal role in consulting with the White House, "the reality is, given the presence of Federalist Society members within the White House counsel's office and the Bush administration, they are playing a crucial role in selecting judges and likely justices," said Erwin Chemerinsky, a liberal Duke University law professor who has addressed the group.

"Appearing at Federalist Society events is one, perhaps the most important, of the ways in which a person who wants to get known as 'reliable' and promotable makes sure that his/her name gets put on 'the list'," Tushnet said in an interview.