Do Conservative Lawyers Know What Time it Is?It is time for conservative lawyers to roll up their sleeves and join the fray.
Frank DeVito
Nov 30, 2022
In a fascinating recent podcast conversation with Saurabh Sharma of American Moment, conservative lawyer Theo Wold discussed whether the conservative legal movement has been a success or failure. One of the failures—or at least dangers—that Wold, who served in the Trump administration as acting assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice and deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, correctly pointed out is the overwhelming desire of young conservative lawyers to become judges.
It is an understandable desire. Conservative judges are an asset to our republic, and a lifetime appointment to the federal bench is a solid career aspiration. But when wave after wave of the most talented young conservatives go to law school and become immersed in elite conservative legal circles, then the tendency to avoid too much controversy, to stay out of politics and policy, and to focus on neutrally “getting law the right” spreads.
This is the enticing path to a well credentialed, uncontroversial resume—the path to the black robe and a lifetime seat on the bench. But Wold is right. I see two particular dangers to conservative lawyers aspiring to the bench and avoiding controversial political work.
First, the habit of laying low creates lawyers who have lost the drive and habit to do boldly conservative things. Let us assume the motive is pure: a young law student is full of good, conservative zeal, and desires to become a judge in order to be a bold conservative voice on the bench. Can that ambition survive a decade or two of “laying low,” of practicing being uncontroversial?
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Second, this ambition for the bench creates a real dearth of elite conservative lawyers to do much-needed work in the public square. We need bold, talented young conservative lawyers in many roles. We need them producing good scholarship. We need them working as counsel for senators and executive agencies. We need them litigating on the front lines in the areas of immigration, abortion, and religious liberty.
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Source:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/do-conservative-lawyers-know-what-time-it-is/
