A call to order sounds for liberals on messageBy Peter S. Canellos, Globe Columnist, 8/5/2003
WASHINGTON -- They filled the second floor of the Capitol Hilton, rumpled soldiers of the academic left, lining up behind microphones, and well-groomed former Clinton officials, their arms extended in a perpetual handshake. The first convention of the American Constitution Society, devoted to connecting left-leaning law professors, politicians, and practicing attorneys, drew a crowd of 800 under a banner proclaiming ''Human Dignity, Individual Rights, and Genuine Equality.''
Founded to ''counter the conservative dominance of the law,'' the group aims to be a counterweight to the right-leaning Federalist Society, which over the last 20 years has promoted conservative thinkers, including scores of Bush judicial appointees.
… There is more than a desire for payback behind these efforts. They are part of a broader recognition that conservatives have created a dominant network linking politics and private organizations. GOP fund-raisers support a shelf-full of right-wing magazines, which in turn promote provocative conservative authors like Ann Coulter. These writers then bestow the movement's approval on chosen thinkers, many identified by the powerful 30,000-member Federalist Society.
Last year, at the Federalist Society's 20th-anniversary banquet, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia regaled the crowd with memories of mentoring the first Federalist chapter at the University of Chicago. Since Scalia was the driving force behind the Supreme Court's decision granting George W. Bush the presidency over Al Gore, the potential reach of a broad ideological network cannot be underestimated.
But as the liberals start to hook up the cars in their own ideological train, much of the political world is awaiting the inevitable crash. While conservatives answer a call to order like the members of a Moose Lodge, liberals fall to cat-fighting like contestants on a reality-TV dating show. Or so the thinking goes.
So it was a surprise that the convention, a mix of seminars and get-togethers, including a ''Janet Reno Dance Party'' hosted by the former attorney general, went off over the weekend without missing a beat.
''They're confronted with a conservative ascendancy now, and the question is how they'll respond,'' said David Lyle, the deputy director. ''What they need is a means for responding. Not responding is not an option now.''
Surprisingly, most members seemed to understand the need to band together, not challenge one another's orthodoxy. Many exulted over a session at which people from the same geographic areas were introduced, forging the first links in a grass-roots network.
