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PR Newswire 12/14/00, 3:01p (Copyright © 2000, PR Newswire) NEW YORK, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ For the past month, a number of top leaders of the Washington, DC-based Federalist Society have led the political and legal effort to secure Florida's 25 electoral votes, and thus the presidency, for G.W. Bush. Along with Ted Olson, other prominent figures in the Federalist Society arguing for Bush included Michael Carvin, James Bopp, Jr., Douglas Cox, Timothy Flanigan, Alex Azar, and Ted Cruz. "Ted Olson's victory on behalf of Bush has set the stage for the Federalist Society to begin institutionalizing their challenge to the infrastructure of our democratic legal system," said Institute for Democracy Studies president Alfred Ross. Targeting the courts, the law schools, and the American Bar Association, the Federalist Society is emerging as an increasingly powerful coalition of conservative and libertarian activists successfully challenging the fundamental tenants of constitutional law. The Former president of the ABA, Jerome Shestack, expressed concern that "so much of the Society's leadership consists of active politicians and others whose slouching toward extremism is self-proclaimed." The Institute for Democracy Studies is releasing its report, the first ever to comprehensively analyze both the structure and agenda of the Federalist Society, to promote informed dialogue about the Society. The 44 page briefing paper details their funding, their activities, the theories promulgated through their publications, and the prominent leadership that the Society relies upon to legitimize its extreme right-wing ideology. This includes former Attorney General Edwin Meese, III, former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, former president of the Christian Coalition, Donald Paul Hodel, and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Orrin Hatch. The Institute for Democracy Studies is a non-profit, tax-exempt research and educational center that studies anti-democratic movements and organizations in the U.S. and internationally. IDS is dedicated to publishing carefully documented materials in the interest of furthering informed public discussion and fuller reporting in the media on major challenges to constitutional democracy and human and civil rights. Founded in 1999 in New York City, IDS maintains interdisciplinary programs in law, reproductive rights, and religion. SOURCE Institute for Democracy Studies /CONTACT: Julie Gerchik, Law and Democracy Program Associate, for Institute for Democracy Studies, 212-423-9237/http://www.idsonline.org/fedsoc.html |