Should the Federalist Society reckon with members who aided Trump’s false election claims?

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Ethics

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 19, 2021, 11:21 am CST

Some members of the Federalist Society are arguing that colleagues who helped President Donald Trump make false claims of widespread election fraud ought to be distanced from the conservative group.

One member calling for motion is appellate litigator Jeremy Rosen, whose federal judicial nomination was not acted on earlier than the Senate left Washington, D.C., this month, in accordance with Law360.

Above the Law founder David Lat, writing at his on-line publication Original Jurisdiction, obtained a replica of an electronic mail that Rosen despatched to Federalist Society leaders.

“I think that the Federalist Society must take a stand to remove anyone from leadership and to take away the legitimacy of our public forums to anyone who participated in this attack on the rule of law and our Constitution,” Rosen wrote. “If we cannot take that stand, then what have we been fighting for all of these years? I know that I speak for many members and leaders of the Federalist Society in bringing these concerns to you.”

Rosen talked about three members specifically. One is John Eastman, a newly retired professor at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law. He additionally spoke on the Jan. 6 rally the day of the Capitol riot and represented Trump in a bid for U.S. Supreme Court election intervention. Eastman chairs the Federalist Society’s federalism and separation of powers observe group.

The two others are Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, who led opposition to the certification of the election outcomes. Both have spoken at Federalist Society occasions.

Lat spoke with two different Federalist Society members who shared Rosen’s issues. And there are extra.

“I have learned that outside the public spotlight,” Lat wrote, “Federalist Society leaders, members and staff are engaged in vigorous debate about what, if anything, the society should do in the wake of the Capitol attack. Since Jan. 6, many longtime FedSoc members have urged the organization’s leaders and staffers in D.C. to take tangible action in response to the abominable attack on the rule of law represented by the siege of the Capitol.”

Lat described the Federalist Society because the nation’s premier group of conservative and libertarian legislation college students and attorneys. The group fosters debate on authorized matters and doesn’t take positions on coverage points. It has not made any public assertion in regards to the riots.

Lat made his own suggestions on steps that the group can take to keep away from the looks of partisanship. They embrace slicing again or eliminating occasions that characteristic partisan politicians and giving chapter management positions to individuals with out positions of authority in partisan teams.