DOCSLIB.ORG

The Federalist Society and Movement Conservatism: How a Fractious Coalition on the Right Is Changing Constitutional Law and the Way We Talk and Think About It

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Federalist Society and Movement Conservatism: How a Fractious Coalition on the Right Is Changing Constitutional Law and the Way We Talk and Think About It THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY AND MOVEMENT CONSERVATISM: HOW A FRACTIOUS COALITION ON THE RIGHT IS CHANGING CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND THE WAY WE TALK AND THINK ABOUT IT Jonathan Riehl A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the department of Communication Studies. Chapel Hill 2007 Approved by: Advisor: J. Robert Cox Reader: V. William Balthrop Reader: Carole Blair Reader: Sally Greene Reader: Lawrence Grossberg Reader: John Harrison ABSTRACT JONATHAN RIEHL: The Federalist Society and Movement Conservatism: How a Fractious Coalition on the Right Is Changing Constitutional Law And the Way We Talk and Think About It (Under the direction of J. Robert Cox) This study is the first in-depth examination of the Federalist Society, the nation’s preeminent organization of conservative and libertarian lawyers. Founded by a few enterprising young college friends in the early days of the Reagan administration, its participants now number 40,000 lawyers, policymakers, judges, and law students. The Society functions as a forum for debate, intellectual exchange, and engagement between the factions on the right as well as their liberal opponents—hence my use of rhetorical theory. I explore how Federalists have promoted conservative legal theories of interpretation, such as originalism and textualism, and also how have also fueled the broader project of the American right to unmake the liberal consensus on a wide range of legal and social issues from Affirmative Action and race to foreign policy. By serving as a forum for the generation and incubation of conservative legal thought, the Federalist Society has provided an invaluable intellectual proving ground; and with chapters now active at all accredited law schools in the country, the Society is widening its reach and providing a home for aspiring conservative lawyers, whether they seek to go into private practice, public service, or the judiciary. This is the Federalist “pipeline”: an ever- expanding network that spreads conservative ideas. It is the engine that drives the boldest Federalist goal: changing legal culture. ii I examine how Federalist conservatives are making headway with this project— “getting a seat at the table,” as former Attorney General Edwin Meese put it. My research draws on over 100 interviews conducted with the Federalist rank-and-file as well as conservative leaders, including a number of federal judges associated with the Society. In addition to providing a critical history of the group, I consider a number of conservative legal theories, often the subject of Federalist Society events and publications. I focus in particular on several key individuals: Justice Antonin Scalia and his modes of textual interpretation; Attorney General Meese and “originalism”; Professor Richard Epstein and libertarianism; former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and national sovereignty. I conclude that the Federalists deserve commendation for their efforts to engage intellectually with their opponents and with the many factions on the right. I also conclude that the left needs to counter the Federalist project with a similarly vigorous and open strategy—and organization—of their own. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I RHETORIC AND CONSERVATIVE POLITICS Prologue HARRIET MIERS AND THE MOVEMENT …...……..…………………....1 Chapter 1 RHETORIC AND THE RISE OF THE RIGHT ...…………………….……13 The Founding of National Review………………………………...…30 Young Americans for Freedom: “The Other Side of the Sixties”...…37 The “Draft Goldwater” Campaign……………………………...……40 The American Conservative Union and Nixon’s Welfare Plan……...46 The Founding of the Moral Majority………………………………...51 The Panama Canal, Sovereignty, and the National Will…………….54 PART II THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY: A CRITICAL HISTORY Chapter 2 THE BIRTH OF AN IDEA ……………………………………..…….…….60 Getting off the Ground……………………………………………….70 Law and Politics, Text and Context………………………………….82 Building the Organization……………………………………………89 Law and Culture…………………………………………………….104 Chapter 3 THE PIPELINE DELIVERS ………………………………………..….….108 Robert Bork: The Dispensable (and Indispensable) Man…………..108 Building and Managing the Pipeline………………………………..112 iv Branching Out: The Role of Judges………………………………...127 National Conventions: The Pipeline’s Central Pumping Station…...134 Strangers in a Strange Land?.............................................................140 PART III FEDERALIST READINGS OF THE LAW Chapter 4 EDWIN MEESE, THE FOUNDERS, AND THE CONSTITUTION …….145 “A Jurisprudence of Original Intention”……………………………149 What Exactly Is “The Law,” and Who Gets to Say So?....................158 The Mythic Constitutional Narrative……………………………….161 The Constitution vs. Constitutional Law…………………………...164 The Historical Stage………………………………………………..169 The Line Between Law and Politics………………………………..171 The Law of the Land?........................................................................174 Derelicts and Power………………………………………………...178 Chapter 5 THE PROBLEM OF RACE: ORIGINALISM, BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION, AND THE RHETORIC OF EQUALITY ...………….........181 Interpreting Brown v. Board: The Debate Begins………………….187 Nixon, Nixon’s Court, and the Emergence of the Think Tanks……194 Reshaping Civil Rights and the Discourse of “Equality”…………..198 The Reagan Era and Colorblindness………………………………..203 The End of Civil Rights?...................................................................209 Chapter 6 ANTONIN SCALIA’S TEXTS AND TRADITIONS …...…………..……213 Textualism and Originalism: The Problem of Intent……………….213 Scalia’s Textualism…………………………………………………219 v Tradition and Text…………………………………………………..223 Looking to Tradition………………………………………………..229 More Traditions…………………………………………………….244 Lawrence v. Texas: Law on The Terrain of Tradition……………...248 Chapter 7 RICHARD EPSTEIN, THE LIBERTARIANS, AND THE LANGUAGE OF ECONOMICS ……..........................................................255 Epstein and the Federalists………………………………………….255 How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution……………………….263 Takings……………………………………………………………...272 Critiques of Economic Discourse…………………………………..276 Chapter 8 THE “NEW SOVEREIGNTY” AND INTERNATIONAL LAW: THERE’S A NEW BAD GUY IN TOWN .....………………………..……282 Meet Mr. Schmitt…………………………………………………...289 Mr. Schmitt Goes to Washington…………………………………...294 American Exceptionalism and the New Sovereignty………………308 Conclusion RHETORIC AND CHANGE ………………………………………...……317 REFERENCES, TABLE OF CASES, INTERVIEWEES…………….....…323 vi PROLOGUE HARRIET MIERS AND THE MOVEMENT Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement from the Supreme Court of the United States on July 1, 2005, presenting President George W. Bush with his first opportunity to nominate a Justice to the highest court in the land. Although it had hardly been a central issue in either of his presidential campaigns, Bush had let it be known that he preferred conservative approaches to the law and declared his intention to appoint Justices in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Among the 40,000 conservative and libertarian lawyers of the Federalist Society—founded as a student group with then-Professor Scalia as their first faculty sponsor—Bush’s backing carried a lot of weight. Two and a half weeks later, Bush nominated D.C. Circuit Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to succeed O’Connor. Roberts had worked in the Reagan justice department, and also in private practice—where he had argued an impressive number of cases before the Supreme Court. He had no academic writings to his name and had been on the D.C. circuit barely long enough to author a dozen opinions; his “paper trail” was exceedingly thin. He seemed an ideal pick, well-respected, bright, and clearly conservative. Then on September 3, 2005, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died in office, presenting Bush with another vacancy to fill. In a move that surprised some Court watchers, he bumped Roberts up to fill Rehnquist’s seat—there is no requirement that Chief Justices already be sitting on the Court. Roberts had clerked for Rehnquist, and his familiar presence as an advocate before his potential colleagues suggested he would be smoothly accepted as one of their brethren. There remained O’Connor’s empty chair to fill. Pressure quickly mounted in the press for Bush to nominate a woman. O’Connor, after all, had been the first female to be nominated to the high court and was generally viewed as a centrist with appeal to both liberals and conservatives; she consistently cast a swing vote in key cases on controversial issues like abortion rights. The leaks regarding Bush’s “short list” included several women, but none mentioned the eventual nominee, White House Counsel Harriet Miers. Washington, and the rest of the country, was baffled. Miers had never served as a judge and was hardly viewed as an intellectual luminary, as Roberts was. Her greatest qualifications for the post appeared to be that she was first, a Bush loyalist, having served in his administrations in Texas as well as Washington, and second, female. It took several days for the punditocracy to react. It was unclear how Miers’s name had been put forward in the first place; some said it was just another example of Bush’s placing loyalty above all else; others claimed Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid had suggested Miers to Bush as a compromise candidate—perhaps because Reid had some inside knowledge about her views on abortion rights. As the hours and days ticked by, it became clear Miers’s staunchest
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Texas Conservative Grassroots Coalition Letter
    November 18, 2020 Dear Texas House Republicans, Once again Democrat efforts to turn Texas blue were soundly rejected by voters across the Lone Star State. While we continue to wait for election results to settle here in Texas and across the nation, it is obvious that Texas voters have delivered a mandate for conservative reform to their elected officials. While our control over national affairs is limited, Republican control of Texas is absolute. The GOP holds majorities in both chambers of the Texas Legislature. It also holds the governor’s office, the lieutenant governor’s office, and every other statewide office. Indeed, Republicans have majorities sufficient to enact any reform they wish – apart from state constitutional amendments – without securing a single Democrat vote. Texans voted for that result and Texans expect that from their elected officials. To be clear, Texas voters did not vote for bipartisan capitulation or compromise with Democrats, they voted for conservative Republican policies to be enacted. Texas has not elected a Democrat statewide since 1994. Texas voters’ decision to again shut Democrats out of statewide office and return Republican majorities to our Legislative and Congressional Delegations signals voters want the Republican Party of Texas Platform rigorously pursued and they expect results – not excuses. In order to advance the Republican Party of Texas Platform and its 87th Session Legislative Priorities, any Republican campaigning for Speaker of the Texas House should and must commit the following to Republican voters: ● Each Republican Party of Texas legislative priority will receive a vote on the floor of the Texas House. ● All House committees shall be chaired by Republicans and shall be composed of a majority of Republicans.
    [Show full text]
  • Book Note Justice Thomas’S Inconsistent Originalism
    BOOK NOTE JUSTICE THOMAS’S INCONSISTENT ORIGINALISM MY GRANDFATHER’S SON: A MEMOIR. By Clarence Thomas.1 New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 2007. Pp. xii, 289. $26.95. Since his infamous confirmation hearings, several of Justice Tho- mas’s biographers2 have struggled to understand and explain the ap- parent conflicts in the life and jurisprudence of a man who acknowl- edges that his conservative views do not comport with the traditional viewpoints of African Americans3 and who advocates an originalist in- terpretation of the Constitution.4 Justice Thomas has received harsh criticism from some of these biographers, and the debate surrounding his adequacy as a Supreme Court Justice has strong political under- pinnings.5 Seeking to correct other accounts of his life, which Justice Thomas views as partly “untrue, at times grossly so” (p. x), My Grand- father’s Son sheds new light on his personal history — especially the key roles race and religion played therein — but generally eschews di- rect discussion of his jurisprudential philosophy. Even so, Justice Thomas’s memoir illuminates his judicial philosophy, because that phi- losophy stems from the experiences and principles discussed in his book. My Grandfather’s Son begins with a description of Justice Tho- mas’s West African ancestry (p. 2) and early childhood. Born in a shanty in Pinpoint, Georgia, on June 23, 1948 (pp. 3–4), Thomas spent his early years fatherless, alongside his mother, Leola; aunt, Annie; and siblings, Emma Mae and Myers (pp. 1, 3). In 1954, Myers accidentally burned down their home (p. 6), and Leola took her sons to live in a de- ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 1 Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert L. Tsai
    ROBERT L. TSAI Professor of Law American University The Washington College of Law 4300 Nebraska Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016 202.274.4370 [email protected] roberttsai.com EDUCATION J.D. Yale Law School, 1997 The Yale Law Journal, Editor, Volume 106 Yale Law and Policy Review, Editor, Volume 12 Honorable Mention for Oral Argument, Harlan Fiske Stone Prize Finals, 1996 Morris Tyler Moot Court of Appeals, Board of Directors Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic B.A. University of California, Los Angeles, History & Political Science, magna cum laude, 1993 Phi Beta Kappa Highest Departmental Honors (conferred by thesis committee) Carey McWilliams Award for Best Honors Thesis: Building the City on the Hilltop: A Socio-Political Study of Early Christianity ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS Temple University, Beasley School of Law Clifford Scott Green Chair and Visiting Professor of Constitutional Law, Fall 2019 Courses: Fourteenth Amendment History and Practice, Presidential Leadership Over Individual Rights American University, The Washington College of Law Professor of Law, May 2009—Present Associate Professor of Law (with tenure), June 2008—May 2009 Courses: Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Jurisprudence, Presidential Leadership and Individual Rights, The First Amendment University of Georgia Law School Visiting Professor, Semester in Washington Program, Spring & Fall 2012 Course: The American Presidency and Individual Rights University of Oregon School of Law Associate Professor of Law (with tenure), 2007-08 Assistant Professor, 2002-07 2008 Lorry I. Lokey University Award for Faculty Excellence (via nomination & peer review) 2007 Orlando John Hollis Faculty Teaching Award Courses: Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, Free Speech, Equality, Religious Freedom, Civil Rights Litigation Yale University, Department of History Teaching Fellow, 1996, 1997 CLERKSHIPS The Honorable Hugh H.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading Clarence Thomas
    Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Faculty Scholarship Faculty Publications 2004 Reading Clarence Thomas Kendall Thomas Columbia Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, and the Law and Race Commons Recommended Citation Kendall Thomas, Reading Clarence Thomas, 18 NAT'L BLACK L. J. 224 (2004). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2172 This Essay is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ESSAY READING CLARENCE THOMAS Kendall Thomas* The state is INHERENTLY racial, every state institution is a RACIAL institu- tion, and the entire social order is equilabrated (unstably) by the state to preserve the prevailing racial order. -Omi & Winant' Several years ago, a special issue of The New Yorker entitled "Black in America" included an extraordinary profile of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.2 Authored by Jeffrey Rosen, the article begins with an account of Justice Thomas's interventions in two of the most important cases decided during the Court's previous term. In the first of these cases, Missouri v. Jenkins, the Court was called upon to define the constitutional scope and limits of the federal judicial power to address racial concentra- tion in Kansas City's public schools through salary increases and the crea- tion of magnet programs.3 In the second case, Adarand v.
    [Show full text]
  • Justices' Profiles Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the William & Mary Law School
    College of William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository Supreme Court Preview Conferences, Events, and Lectures 1995 Section 1: Justices' Profiles Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the William & Mary Law School Repository Citation Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the William & Mary Law School, "Section 1: Justices' Profiles" (1995). Supreme Court Preview. 35. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/preview/35 Copyright c 1995 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/preview WARREN E. BURGER IS DEAD AT 87 Was Chief Justice for 17 Years Copyright 1995 The New York Times Company The New York Times June 26, 1995, Monday Linda Greenhouse Washington, June 25 - Warren E. Burger, who retired to apply like an epithet -- overruled no major in 1986 after 17 years as the 15th Chief Justice of the decisions from the Warren era. United States, died here today at age 87. The cause It was a further incongruity that despite Chief was congestive heart failure, a spokeswoman for the Justice Burger's high visibility and the evident relish Supreme Court said. with which he used his office to expound his views on An energetic court administrator, Chief Justice everything from legal education to prison Burger was in some respects a transitional figure management, scholars and Supreme Court despite his tenure, the longest for a Chief Justice in commentators continued to question the degree to this century. He presided over a Court that, while it which he actually led the institution over which he so grew steadily more conservative with subsequent energetically presided.
    [Show full text]
  • Charlie Sykes
    CHARLIE SYKES EDITOR-AT-LARGE, THE BULWARK Quick Summary Life in Brief Former conservative radio host and Wisconsin Hometown: Seattle, WA Republican kingmaker who gained national prominence as a leading voice in the Never Trump Current Residence: Mequon, WI movement and created the Bulwark website as a messaging arm for like-minded conservatives Education: • BA, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, • Love for journalism and politics heavily influenced 1975 by his father • Self-described “recovering liberal” who criticizes Family: both political parties for inflexibility and for • Married to Janet Riordan alienating those who reject status quo • Three children, two grandchildren • As conservative radio host, cultivated significant influence in Wisconsin GOP politics – quickly Work History: becoming a go-to stop for Republican candidates; • Editor-at-Large, The Bulwark, 2019- drew significant attention to issues like school Present choice • Host, The Daily Standard, 2018 • Became national figure after refusing to support • Contributing editor, The Weekly Donald Trump Standard • Co-founded the Bulwark with Bill Kristol, which • Contributor, NBC/MSNBC, 2016-present has become a leading mouthpiece of the Never • Host, Indivisible WNYC, 2017 Trump conservative movement • Editor-in-Chief, Right Wisconsin • Considers himself a “political orphan” in the era of • Radio show host, WTMJ, 1999-2016 Trump after exile from conservative movement • Radio host, WISN, 1989-93 whose political identity has changed many times • PR for Dave Schulz, Milwaukee
    [Show full text]
  • Conversations with Bill Kristol Guest: Charles Murray, Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
    Conversations with Bill Kristol Guest: Charles Murray, scholar, American Enterprise Institute Table of Contents I: 0:00 – 5:55 II: I: (0:15 –) KRISTOL: Hi, I’m Bill Kristol. Welcome back to CONVERSATIONS. I’m very pleased to be joined today again by Charles Murray, scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, author of many important books: Losing Ground – when was that? 1984? – The Bell Curve in the mid-90s, and Coming Apart, about four years ago. I would say, I’m not sure there’s a social commentator who’s written as many important books over the last few decades as Charles so it is a great pleasure and honor to have you here. And you’re going to explain the current moment, right? MURRAY: With that kind of introduction I suppose I’m obligated to. KRISTOL: Exactly right. So what – this is the very beginning of August of 2016. People are – someone wrote something in the New York Times yesterday giving you credit for presciently seeing that Trump or Trumpism, I guess, was going to happen. Did you see it, and what do you make of it? MURRAY: I knew that we were going to have a problem with the white working class, and actually, I guess I’ll blow my own horn and say in 1993 for The Wall Street Journal, I had a long article called “The Coming White Underclass.” If you go back and read that – but this is not rocket science, it simply was the trend lines for out-of-wedlock births among working-class whites at that point had been spiking upward.
    [Show full text]
  • August Sunday Talk Shows Data
    August Sunday Talk Shows Data August 1, 2010 21 men and 6 women NBC's Meet the Press with David Gregory: 5 men and 1 woman Admiral Michael Mullen (M) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (M) Alan Greenspan (M) Gov. Ed Rendell (M) Doris Kearns Goodwin (F) Mark Halperin (M) CBS's Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: 4 men and 0 women Admiral Michael Mullen (M) Sen. Jon Kyl (M) Richard Haass (M) Thomas Saenz (M) ABC's This Week with Jake Tapper: 4 men and 2 women Sen. Nancy Pelosi (F) Robert Gates (M) George Will (M) Paul Krugman (M) Donna Brazile (F) Ahmed Rashid (M) CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley: 4 men and 0 women Sen. Carl Levin (M) Sen. Lindsey Graham (M) Dan Balz (M) Peter Baker (M) Fox News' Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: 4 men and 3 women Sarah Palin (F) Sen. Mitch McConnell (M) Rep. John Boehner (M) Bill Kristol (M) Ceci Connolly (F) Liz Cheney (F) Juan Williams (M) August 8, 2010 20 men and 7 women NBC's Meet the Press with David Gregory: 4 men and 2 women Carol Browner (F) Rep. John Boehner (M) Rep. Mike Pence (M) former Rep. Harold Ford (M) Andrea Mitchell (F) Todd S. Purdum (M) CBS's Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: 4 men and 1 woman Admiral Thad Allen (M) David Boies (M) Tony Perkins (M) Dan Balz (M) Jan Crawford (F) ABC's This Week with Jake Tapper: 5 men and 1 woman General Ray Odierno (M) Gen.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of the New Right on the Reagan Administration
    LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON THE IMPACT OF THE NEW RIGHT ON THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION: KIRKPATRICK & UNESCO AS. A TEST CASE BY Isaac Izy Kfir LONDON 1998 UMI Number: U148638 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U148638 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 2 ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to investigate whether the Reagan administration was influenced by ‘New Right’ ideas. Foreign policy issues were chosen as test cases because the presidency has more power in this area which is why it could promote an aggressive stance toward the United Nations and encourage withdrawal from UNESCO with little impunity. Chapter 1 deals with American society after 1945. It shows how the ground was set for the rise of Reagan and the New Right as America moved from a strong affinity with New Deal liberalism to a new form of conservatism, which the New Right and Reagan epitomised. Chapter 2 analyses the New Right as a coalition of three distinctive groups: anti-liberals, New Christian Right, and neoconservatives.
    [Show full text]
  • Senate Confirms Kirkland Alum to Claims Court - Law360
    9/24/2020 Senate Confirms Kirkland Alum To Claims Court - Law360 Portfolio Media. Inc. | 111 West 19th Street, 5th floor | New York, NY 10011 | www.law360.com Phone: +1 646 783 7100 | Fax: +1 646 783 7161 | [email protected] Senate Confirms Kirkland Alum To Claims Court By Julia Arciga Law360 (September 22, 2020, 2:46 PM EDT) -- A Maryland-based former Kirkland & Ellis LLP associate will become a judge of the Court of Federal Claims for a 15-year term, after the U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed him by a 66-27 vote. Edward H. Meyers is a partner at Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP, litigating bid protests, breach of contract disputes and copyright infringement. While at the firm, he served as counsel for one of the collection agencies in a 2018 consolidated protest action challenging the U.S. Department of Education's solicitation for student loan debt collection services. He clerked with Federal Claims Judge Loren A. Smith between 2005 and 2006 before spending six years as a Kirkland associate, where he worked as a civil litigator handling securities, government contracts, construction, insurance and statutory claims. He earned his bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University and his law degree summa cum laude from Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law — where he joined the Federalist Society and still remains a member. Judiciary committee members Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., had raised questions about Meyers' Federalist Society affiliation before Tuesday's vote, and he confirmed that he did speak to fellow members throughout his nomination process.
    [Show full text]
  • The Meaning of the Federalist Papers
    English-Language Arts: Operational Lesson Title: The Meaning of the Federalist Papers Enduring Understanding: Equality is necessary for democracy to thrive. Essential Question: How did the constitutional system described in The Federalist Papers contribute to our national ideas about equality? Lesson Overview This two-part lesson explores the Federalist Papers. First, students engage in a discussion about how they get information about current issues. Next, they read a short history of the Federalist Papers and work in small groups to closely examine the text. Then, student pairs analyze primary source manuscripts concerning the Federalist Papers and relate these documents to what they have already learned. In an optional interactive activity, students now work in small groups to research a Federalist or Anti-Federalist and role-play this person in a classroom debate on the adoption of the Constitution. Extended writing and primary source activities follow that allow students to use their understanding of the history and significance of the Federalist Papers. Lesson Objectives Students will be able to: • Explain arguments for the necessity of a Constitution and a bill of rights. • Define democracy and republic and explain James Madison’s use of these terms. • Describe the political philosophy underpinning the Constitution as specified in the Federalist Papers using primary source examples. • Discuss and defend the ideas of the leading Federalists and Anti-Federalists on several issues in a classroom role-play debate. (Optional Activity) • Develop critical thinking, writing skills, and facility with textual evidence by examining the strengths of either Federalism or Anti-Federalism. (Optional/Extended Activities) • Use both research skills and creative writing techniques to draft a dialogue between two contemporary figures that reflects differences in Federalist and Anti-Federalist philosophies.
    [Show full text]
  • Alternative North Americas: What Canada and The
    ALTERNATIVE NORTH AMERICAS What Canada and the United States Can Learn from Each Other David T. Jones ALTERNATIVE NORTH AMERICAS Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20004 Copyright © 2014 by David T. Jones All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s rights. Published online. ISBN: 978-1-938027-36-9 DEDICATION Once more for Teresa The be and end of it all A Journey of Ten Thousand Years Begins with a Single Day (Forever Tandem) TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 Borders—Open Borders and Closing Threats .......................................... 12 Chapter 2 Unsettled Boundaries—That Not Yet Settled Border ................................ 24 Chapter 3 Arctic Sovereignty—Arctic Antics ............................................................. 45 Chapter 4 Immigrants and Refugees .........................................................................54 Chapter 5 Crime and (Lack of) Punishment .............................................................. 78 Chapter 6 Human Rights and Wrongs .................................................................... 102 Chapter 7 Language and Discord ..........................................................................
    [Show full text]