Courts

Look Out Federalist Society... Someone Else Is Trying To Gift More Free Trips To Federal Judges

Two of these things are just like the other!

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Businessman in sunglasses holds bag of money and suitcase. Vector characterWhile everyone’s focusing on Clarence Thomas collecting various flavors of undisclosed graft from Harlan Crow, it’s tempting to overlook all the entirely shady yet properly disclosed perks judges collect from interested parties. For years, the Federalist Society has billed itself as a non-partisan debating society for the benefit of the most gullible people in the universe, despite operating as a purely ideological project to recruit, vet, and advance right-wing lawyers and foster the development and dissemination of conservative legal strategies. The organization is deeply embroiled in almost every important issue before the courts, and it’s consistently the primary purveyor of free travel for federal judges.

Well, disclosed free travel anyway — apologies to Mr. Crow. Because when the Federalist Society pays to whisk federal judges away on a trip, there’s some conference or speech attached so everything stays above board.

Well, except when FedSoc Prime pays Ginni Thomas under the table. Can’t keep it all on the straight and narrow.

But there’s a new player in Influence Town and it’s closing in on FedSoc’s crown! The folks at Fix the Court, the primary Third Branch watchdog (you might’ve thought that was the Judicial Conference but…) read the financial disclosure forms so you don’t have to! But, like, you could if you clicked the last link.

ASS Law comin’, yo. The unfortunately named Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University, the best law school in the world as long as the ranking lacks any real metrics, is doing its best to jet judges around the country — or some other wing of the school is.

It’s no secret that ASS Law placed a premium on currying favor with federal judges. Indeed, it’s transparently a key prong in its rankings strategy. But it takes a lot to rival the shadowy conservative money network behind FedSoc.

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Thankfully, George Mason has a shadowy conservative money network behind it!

But whether FedSoc or ASS Law host the most federal judges in a year is beside the point. Combined, the entities account for almost half the instances of judicial travel. No other entity really comes close. Why are right-wing groups offering more trips than anyone else? There’s a compelling argument that the people backing the conservative legal movement decided long ago that maintaining consistent personal contact is key to juicing the sense of tribalism undergirding the effort.

And it seems like they’ve stumbled onto a successful model! It’s really incredible what some strategic thinking and the bottomless bankroll of plutocrats can buy a legal movement.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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