Giuliani hitches his star to conservative legal group

As if one needed another reason to distrust Rudy Giuliani

Giuliani hitches his star to conservative legal group
By James Oliphant Washington Bureau
September 6, 2007


WASHINGTON - Candidates sometimes speak in code, using language that might sound ordinary but has particular meaning to a chosen few.

Consider Rudolph Giuliani earlier this summer as he swung through Iowa. In the town of Council Bluffs, along the Nebraska border, he promised to select "strict constructionist" federal judges if elected president. It's likely that the pledge elicited nods, some yawns, and more than a few blank stares among the crowd.

But the sound bite really wasn't for them so much as it was a smart bomb aimed at the conservative legal elite in Washington. And its intended message was clear: "I am one of you."

That's no small statement where Giuliani is concerned. The former New York mayor is on the record supporting abortion rights and gun control, which loom as twin icebergs in his so-far-smooth sail toward the Republican presidential nomination. That means he needs some conservative bona fides in a hurry.

In that effort, Giuliani has tied himself in a big way to the Federalist Society, the expanding network of conservative lawyers who over the past quarter-century have played a leading role in reshaping the nation's judiciary and setting high-level Republican administration policy.

The newest Supreme Court justice, Samuel Alito, is a proud son of the group, as are his elders on the court, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. And although the reported membership of Chief Justice John Roberts has been a matter of some dispute, Roberts will be delivering the keynote speech at the society's annual convention this fall.

Giuliani will be there too. His overture to the Federalist Society seems to be a bid to reassure nervous conservatives that they can count on him to do the right thing when it comes to selecting judges and crafting legal policy.

Rest of article is here:


This is the group that brought us Scalia, Uncle Clarence, Alito and John Roberts. So now that Rudy is singing their tune, it makes him even more dangerous than he already was. Keep a watchout folks. Not that you needed a reason to not trust Rudy, but here's one more. If there ever was a clear enemy of Black Folk, it's the Federalist Society. Keep your eyes open for more developments.