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Quotes
"The Federalist Society is changing
the culture of our nation's law schools. You are returning the values and
concepts of law as our founders understood them to scholarly dialogue, and
through that dialogue, to our legal institutions."
-- President Ronald Reagan
"The Federalist Society has brought
to campus the commitment to real, honest, vigorous, and open discussion. It
is a result of the works of the Federalist Society to create a wonderful
environment for discussing social, political, legal, and constitutional
issues."
-- Dean Paul Brest, Stanford Law School
"It has been my pleasure to speak at
many Federalist Society gatherings around the country, and I think one
thing your organization has definitely done is to contribute to free
speech, free debate, and most importantly public understanding of,
awareness of, and appreciation of the Constitution. So that's a marvelous
contribution, and in a way I must say I'm jealous at how the Federalist
Society has thrived at law schools."
-- Nadine Strossen, President, ACLU
"[The Federalist Society] is not
really very revolutionary, but enormously successful for those who are
intellectually curious, have a strong interest in our nation's values and
institutions, and are sufficiently self-assured to want to hear the best
arguments by the best advocates on all sides concerning these
subjects."
-- Hon. Theodore Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General
"There was a time when we thought
that intellectual ferment was on the left and the right was brain dead. The
Federalist Society played a major role in reversing that assumption."
-- Hon. Walter Dellinger, Acting U.S. Solicitor General, 1996-97
"This organization has played an
important part in sparking a dialogue between lawyers and judges, and even
at times amongst judges themselves...by assiduously avoiding the temptation
to take positions, or to lobby and engage in political advocacy. Resisting
that temptation takes discipline, I am sure, but rest assured that you have
made the right choice and are providing a genuine and unique service in so
doing. Stay the course!"
-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
"It is a great pleasure for me to be
in front of the Federalist Society. I am a tremendous admirer of this
organization. I agree completely that it has served an enormously valuable
function, in getting the debate going about the meaning of the
Constitution. The fact that there are two sides to the debate is evidenced
by my presence here, today, but your contribution to stimulating a debate,
to getting us on the other side to think more clearly about our issues, and
to presenting to the American public issues…has performed an enormously
useful function."
-- Professor Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law School
"I want to commend the [Federalist]
Society for bringing together the best minds from right, left, and center
to debate the most pressing legal issues of the day."
-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
"I have never been at a Federalist
Society debate that has not been fairly run, that has not aimed high, that
has not asked the hard questions and confronted the intellectual problems.
[I]t is one of the prizes of the NYU Law School to have a Federalist
Society Chapter that is intellectually vigorous and successful in being
[such a] part of the mainstream of the intellectual life of this school as
the chapter [is] here, and I am very grateful."
-- Professor Burt Neuborne, NYU Law School and former ACLU President
"I love the Federalist Society...
These are highly committed, intelligent, hard-working, active students who
make the Harvard community better."
-- Dean Elena Kagan, Harvard Law School
"The purpose of the Federalist
Society was to bring together young people who had this skepticism about
what they were being taught and to let them know that there were others who
shared this skepticism."
-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
"I am proud to say that the
Federalist Society was founded in part at the University of Chicago, and
one of its best characteristics has been an attack on liberal shibboleths
by looking at real consequences and specific problems and by asking what
law actually does."
-- Professor Cass Sunstein, University of Chicago Law School
"The Federalist Society has done
more for the health of the law than any organization I have witnessed in my
career."
-- Judge Robert Bork
"I want to thank you for having me
here. I think it's admirable that you set up your program to present
diverse viewpoints and invite among you such really very deep-dyed liberals
as myself."
-- Professor Barbara Babcock, Stanford Law School
"You [The Federalist Society] have
already made…a considerable, an indispensable contribution to the dialogue
about the rule of law which lies at the heart of the great freedoms that I
am convinced many of us take for granted every single day of our lives. And
I salute you for this intellectual vigor in framing the issues… The
Federalist Society is a true example of how semi-closed societies can be
transformed, at least in part, by allowing new thoughts to be aired and by
allowing a free competition of ideas."
-- Chief Judge Ralph Winter, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
"It is not the dignitaries who are
the real cause of hope, however. What is an enormously refreshing and
hopeful sign is to see the young people who make up the membership of the
Federalist Society. Earnest, intelligent, and unpretentious, these are the
young men and women of whom any nation and any age could be proud."
-- Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution
"The Federalist Society has made
important contributions to the nation's understanding of our constitutional
heritage."
-- Vice President Richard Cheney
"[The Federalist Society] puts a
value on open debate, and on the belief that true legal education demands
an exposure to a diversity of views, a free and open exchange."
-- Dean Robert Clark, Harvard Law School
"The Federalist Society has
developed a reputation for being a lively and open forum for serious
discussion about important legal topics. Liberals and conservatives are
regularly brought together to debate and exchange views. Not only has the
group hosted events with Chief Justice William Rehnquist and former Judge
Robert Bork, but other speakers have included Supreme Court Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg, American Civil Liberties Union President Nadine Strossen,
Congressman Barney Frank and Jamin Raskin of the Rainbow Coalition. I wish
every legal group welcomed such a broad array of speakers."
-- Richard Thornburgh, former U.S. Attorney General
"I've done a lot of academic
conferences in my career, and I always find the Federalist Society the most
enjoyable because the Federalist Society is the organization that is least
afraid of inviting people whom they know seriously disagree with
them."
-- Professor William Marshall, Northwestern University and Associate White
House Counsel under President Bill Clinton
"My message is very simple. It's to
applaud the Federalist Society for its extraordinary commitment to the
contest of ideas…I applaud the spirit of the Federalist Society in putting
in on conferences that really do capture the importance of diversity and
viewpoint in education."
-- Dean John Sexton, NYU School of Law
"I have long been an admirer of the
academic integrity that characterizes the Federalist Society's
symposia…Indeed, the organizers of the gathering have done such an
extraordinary job of bringing together participants from all ideological
persuasions that this Symposium promises a series of debates and
discussions that will become classics in the continuing dialogue about our
constitutional order."
-- Dean Robert W. Bennett, Northwestern University School of Law
"This conference continues the
admirable tradition of the Federalist Society, a tradition which emphasizes
the unique role of law students in fostering a robust marketplace of ideas
about law, and in maintaining the interdisciplinary focus of the modern
university law school."
-- Dean Robert E. Scott, University of Virginia Law School
"I was told that Federalist Society
conventions were intellectually serious, courteous, and open to various
points of view, and that has certainly been my experience."
-- Professor Sanford Levinson, University of Texas School of Law
"I'm delighted, as always, to be
speaking before a Federalist Society audience. I take every opportunity to
accept your speaking invitations. I always feel so at home, and I love
reminding folks who may not remember this, among your founding principles
is that the state exists to preserve freedom. It reminds me very much of
another organization that's near and dear to me."
-- Nadine Strossen, President, ACLU
Stanford Federalist Society
Stanford Law School
559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
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