Defenders
of Constitution Put Congress on Notice. Federalist
Society tackles modern attacks on lawmaking authority.
(Daily Signal) – The Federalist
Society has catapulted traditional jurisprudence into prominence, making
constitutional principles vogue at both law schools and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now, for the first time, the society plans to make a similar play on Congress.
At its annual convention in
Washington last week, the legal society announced the “Article I Project,” a
pro bono effort to analyze the health of the U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives.
Traditionally, the influential legal
group has focused on issues concerning the executive and judicial
branches. But in recent years, Federalist Society President Eugene Meyer says,
the legislative branch has not received “the kind of steady stream of attention
it deserves.”
“We hope to change that dynamic
through this project,” Meyer said in an interview with The Daily Signal. Prominent
and influential in legal circles, the Federalist Society has achieved
significant success at the judicial level since its founding in 1981. In the
past three decades, the group has spearheaded the effort to advance an original
or textual interpretation of the Constitution.
Meyer said the Article I
Project—which takes its name from the section of the U.S. Constitution granting
legislative power—will examine the evolving challenges facing a modern Congress
in light of permanent principle. Rather than tailor-made policies, the Article
I project aims at producing a guiding philosophy for lawmakers.
Meyer said a “philosophical
perspective” on the proper role of Congress has been lacking in recent
discussions among academics and policy makers. “And that’s what we are really
hoping to contribute, and think we have a good chance to do,” he told The Daily
Signal. Already, the Federalist Society has recruited leading legal experts for
the project, Meyer said. Over the next year, they will study and analyze
Congress before offering their findings to lawmakers. Meyer declined to speculate on where
he thinks Congress could improve. Another society member, Sen. Mike Lee,
R-Utah, was not as reserved.
During a keynote
address at the organization’s national conference, Lee chastised Congress
“for investing in its own irrelevance” by surrendering lawmaking authority to
administrative agencies.
Lee also praised the Federalist
Society for taking “an increasing role in shaping how the Constitution operates
[and] how it’s followed within the United States Congress.”
More than an academic exercise, the
society’s project could yield significant result, Heritage Foundation scholar
David Azerrad said. Azerrad, director of
the think tank’s Simon Center for Principles and Politics, credits the Federalist
Society with being “one of the great conservative success stories of the latter
half of the 20th century.” He described its examination of Congress as “a
welcome effort.”
Since beginning as a student group
at Yale Law School, the Federalist Society has grown into a national network of
scholars, students, lawyers and judges. Three of its members currently sit on
the Supreme Court: Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
Extending that influence to
lawmakers on Capitol Hill will be difficult but achievable, said Randy Barnett,
director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Barnett, who argued
against the Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court last summer, said he
believes the society can convince Congress to change.
“This is where the Federalist
Society comes in,” Barnett told The Daily Signal. “Generally ideology can trump
narrow parochial interest when they are salient, when they are well publicized
enough. That’s how we got the Constitution in the first place.” Although the
society has yet to reach out formally to congressional leadership, Meyer said
he’s certain lawmakers are aware of the project.
Before he got the job, House Speaker
Paul Ryan’s chief of staff, David Hoppe, was scheduled to speak at the
Federalist Society’s recent annual convention. Hoppe canceled after
Ryan tapped him, Meyer said.
Meyer cautioned that the Article I
Project shouldn’t be construed as a shift away from the legal group’s
traditional emphasis on judicial matters.
The society’s president dismissed
rumors that conservative Supreme Court justices wouldn’t attend the group’s
convention this month. Although Scalia and Alito did not speak at the event,
they attended a banquet afterward, Meyer said.
Some news
outlets reported earlier in October that justices were skipping this
month’s convention to avoid any appearance of encroaching on another branch of
government. Since 2010, the event has featured addresses each year by either
Alito or Thomas.
http://dailysignal.com/2015/11/25/heres-why-this-legal-society-is-examining-how-congress-works/
http://www.teaparty.org/defenders-constitution-put-congress-notice-131832/
Comments
Voters
can find out which Senators and Congressmen do not honor the Constitution (as
written) by checking Conservative Review Scorecard and looking at scores below
80%. Those that do honor the Constitution have scores between 80% and
100%. We need to elect more of these
high scorers to Congress and get rid of those who score below 50% as quickly as
possible.
Norb Leahy,
Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
