The Liberal Riposte

Imitation is the highest form of flattery. But liberal groups who want to counter the Federalist Society have no wish to flatter; they hope to engage liberal law students in a broad battle against the conservative legal movement.

On July 30 a cast of heavy hitters kicked off the American Constitution Society (www.americanconstitutionsociety.org), which grew out of an effort at Georgetown Law School to establish a networking and intellectual base for centrists and progressives. Speaking to loud cheers and standing ovations at Georgetown were former US Attorney General Janet Reno, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund president Elaine Jones, former judge Abner Mikva, Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe and former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger. Judge Stephen Reinhardt, Judge Alex Kozinski's ideological adversary on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, flew in from Los Angeles. Since an article appeared about the group in the New York Times in May, the number of law schools with students and professors hoping to open chapters has gone from twelve to eighty. The chapters will begin by sponsoring forums and debates, and lawyers' chapters are set to follow in metropolitan areas.

"One can always puzzle over the timing--where have we been for the past ten years?" said Chris Edley, a law professor at Harvard who is on the board of advisers. Former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo has also agreed to be on the board. Cuomo says he sees the group as a counterforce to make sure the Constitution is interpreted in a "reasonable" way. "Once you put that much weight on that side of the boat, you better put weight on the other side of the boat," he says. "We're the weight on the other side of the boat. We need to right the boat and keep it even."

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