Speaker 1: Pushkin Hi Noah Feldman. Here in the Deep Bench mini series,
Speaker 1: my producers and I explored how the Federalist Society became
Speaker 1: the most powerful legal organization in the country. Six of
Speaker 1: the nine Supreme Court justices are current or former Fedstock members.
Speaker 1: Now at the height of its power, the Federalist Society
Speaker 1: faces new challenges and internal divisions that threatened to splinter it.
Speaker 1: It was just too important a story not to do.
Speaker 1: More so we expanded our initial reporting into an audiobook,
Speaker 1: Takeover How a Conservative Student Club Captured the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: includes additional interviews and a new preface and afterward. Takeover
Speaker 1: is available wherever audiobooks are sold, including Pushkin dot fm.
Speaker 1: When you buy direct from Pushkin dot fm, you get
Speaker 1: the book for four ninety nine and also get the
Speaker 1: closest experience to listening to the podcast. I urge you
Speaker 1: to give it a try. Thanks, as always for your support.
Speaker 1: Pushkin Industries presents Takeover How a Conservative Student Club Captured
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court, Written by Noah Feldman with Lydia Jane
Speaker 1: Cott and read by Noah Feldman. Now a time for
Speaker 1: mourning for a remarkable career and life wellly US Supreme
Speaker 1: Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age
Speaker 1: of eighty seven. I stand before you today to fulfill
Speaker 1: one of my highest and most important duties under the
Speaker 1: United States Constitution, the nomination of a Supreme Court justice.
Speaker 1: When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: I knew one thing for sure, the person that Donald
Speaker 1: Trump would nominate to replace her would be affiliated with
Speaker 1: a powerful organization called the Federalist Society. As a constitutional
Speaker 1: law professor at Harvard University, I spend a lot of
Speaker 1: my time watching the Supreme Court. It's a big part
Speaker 1: of my job. But this prediction did not take much
Speaker 1: in the way of higher level expertise. The two other
Speaker 1: Supreme Court justices the Trump had already appointed, Neil Gorsuch
Speaker 1: and Brett Kavanaugh, are both affiliated with the Federalist Society,
Speaker 1: so are eighty percent of the judges that Trump had
Speaker 1: already appointed to the Courts of Appeals. The Federalist Society
Speaker 1: is a club for conservative and libertarian lawyers. It's focused
Speaker 1: on promoting conservative legal thought and on filling the American
Speaker 1: judiciary with like minded allies. It was founded about forty
Speaker 1: years ago by a bunch of law students nerds really,
Speaker 1: who felt ostracized on their law school campuses because of
Speaker 1: their conservative views. Since then, it's grown to become the
Speaker 1: most influential legal organization in the United States ever, capable
Speaker 1: of dramatically redefining American jurisprudence for decades to come. And
Speaker 1: sure enough, Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who is
Speaker 1: closely affiliated with the Federalist Society. I'm honored and humbled
Speaker 1: to appear before you today as a nominee for Associate
Speaker 1: Justice of the Supreme Court. With Amy Coney Barrett now
Speaker 1: on the Supreme Court, six of the nine justices are
Speaker 1: current or former Federalist Society members. This book, adapted from
Speaker 1: a series on my podcast, Deep Background, is the story
Speaker 1: of what the Federalist Society stands for, how it took
Speaker 1: over the Supreme Court, and why, now that it has
Speaker 1: achieved extraordinary success, it may actually be about to fall apart.