Synopses & Reviews
A timely and multifaceted portrait of the lawyers who serve the diverse constituencies of the conservative movement,
Lawyers of the Right explains what unites and divides lawyers for the three major groupssocial conservatives, libertarians, and business advocatesthat have coalesced in recent decades behind the Republican Party.
Drawing on in-depth interviews with more than seventy lawyers who represent conservative and libertarian nonprofit organizations, Ann Southworth explores their values and identities and traces the implications of their shared interest in promoting political strategies that give lawyers leading roles. She goes on to illuminate the function of mediator organizationssuch as the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policythat have succeeded in promoting cooperation among different factions of conservative lawyers. Such cooperation, she finds, has aided efforts to drive law and the legal profession politically rightward and to give lawyers greater prominence in the conservative movement. Southworth concludes, though, that tensions between the conservative law movements elite and populist elements may ultimately lead to its undoing.
About the Author
Ann Southworth is professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
2 The Creation of an Infrastructure for Conservative Legal Advocacy
3 Divided Constituencies and Their Lawyers
4 Professional Identity
5 How Much Common Ground?
6 Mediator Organizations: The Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society
7 What's Law Got to Do with It?
8 Conclusion
Appendix: Research Methods
Notes
References Index