Overview

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 groups—social conservatives, libertarians, and business advocates—that 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 organizations—such as the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy—that 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 movement’s elite and populist elements may ultimately lead to its undoing.

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9780226768342

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Reviews

Presenting her subjects straight-forwardly, without making judgments about the issues that they and their organizations support, Ann Southworth rejects the notion that the lawyers for the right are less deserving than lawyers for the left of the 'cause lawyer' title. The topic is fascinating. Southworth's portraits and analyses of the various parties, especially the mediators of the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, are illuminating. And the tone is just right. - Bryant Garth, Southwestern Law School

Author Information

Ann Southworth is professor of law at Case Western Reserve University.

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