Debating the Subtle Sway of the Federalist Society

[burythehatchet]

"I am a member of the Federalist Society, and I do not know, quite frankly, what it stands for."

The transcript does not say whether people in the Senate hearing room responded with disbelief. But that is how one person headed for a top job in the Justice Department, Viet D. Dinh, described his relationship with the society, a conservative legal group whose influence is the source of ever-swelling myth, mystery, insinuation, denial and debate.

...

White House aides have worked hard to put distance between the society and John G. Roberts, the federal appeals judge Mr. Bush has nominated for the Supreme Court. They have even demanded corrections from newspapers that identified him as a member.

Then an old directory surfaced last week, listing Judge Roberts as part of one of the group's steering committees. The White House spokesmen clung to their line; since Judge Roberts had not, apparently, written a $25 membership check, he was not a formal member.
...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/01/politics/politicsspecial1/01federalist.html?8hpib

[wli]

1. myth, mystery, insinuation, denial, and debate?

More like they're being ordered to cover up the fact they might as well be the lawyers' branch of the KKK and have been trying to roll back anti-disenfranchisement laws from the groups' formation.

[burythehatchet]

2. I wonder how these champions of separation of powers

feel about recess appointments to the UN. Being a conservative means embracing hypocricy.