The Unflinching Power of the Federalist Society

In 2016, Merrick Garland was set to become a Supreme Court Justice when Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell prevented a confirmation hearing by the Senate. This action aligned with the decades-long battle McConnell has had with Supreme Court Justices, a feud that began with Conservative Justice Robert Bork in 1987 (Green, 2022). As a result, the conservative Federalist Society amped-up its functions and programming, and by 1990 Samuel Alito was a top candidate for the next Supreme Court Justice (Scherer and Miller 360-368).

Influence of The Federalist Society

The Federalist Society is a conservative nonprofit that has gained immense influence on the U.S. judicial system; while it claims to be a nonpolitical organization, it has monopolized the federal judiciary to the far-right. As academics Nancy Scherer and Banks Miller state, “Notwithstanding the significant influence the Society and its members have wielded in three straight Republican administrations in terms of staffing the Justice Department, the West Wing, and the federal bench, the organizations has always maintained that its s a nonpolitical organization” (Scherer and Miller 368). The current Supreme Court Justices— Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavangh, and Neil Gorsuch—were all nominated for the Supreme Court with support from the Federalist Society (Harvard Gazette).

Over the years, the Federalist Party has only grown more influential, backed by powerful donors and the resources of the far right. For instance, the present-day co-chair of the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo, has been hugely successful at fundraising and funneling dark money into the Federalist Society, something which has amplified the influence the nationalist party currently has on the entire federal judicial system (Bernstein, et. al, 2023). The immense quantity of dark money infiltrating the Supreme Court Conservatives extends all the way back to Samuel Alito in 2005, as the Washington Post states, “In 2005 and 2006, Leo served as the leader of the campaigns supporting Supreme Court nominees John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr. He…spent about $15 million in donations from undisclosed donors on ads, telemarketing and the mobilization of “grass roots” groups” (Boburg and O’Harrow Jr, 2019). 

Conclusion 

What is conspicuous is the amount of influence and power the Federalist Society has had from the Supreme Court all the way to district courts. The Federalist Society, working in tandem with President-elect Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell, has increased the total number of

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Trump-endorsed nominees to be confirmed by the United States Senate. In total, Trump-appointed judges have added three associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 54 judges for the United States courts of appeals, 174 judges for the United States district courts, and three judges for the United States Court of International Trade (Bernstein, et. al, 2023). This is significant because it illustrates a clear monopolization of power by the Federalist society in the American Judicial system. In short, the Federalist Society has an immense amount of influence in today’s judicial system.

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