The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, one of the leading progressive legal organizations in the United States, is making ground in the Obama Administration, according to a Washington Post article.
Eric Holder, an ACS board member, has been nominated to the position of attorney general. Multiple other ACS board members and attorneys with ACS have also been mentioned as potential appointees for other posts within the Obama administration.
The wind change is not just important for ACS, but for the change of political thinking within the White House. “”What that means is that the organization’s core function of developing and promulgating legal ideas and social policy will have a more receptive audience than it has had in the past eight years,” said Paul M. Smith, a District lawyer who is chairman of the ACS board.”
How receptive the Obama administration will be to ACS and its legal philosophy is still unclear. As the article goes on to explain, “While it is clear that ACS will achieve a new level of influence in the Obama administration, it remains to be seen how persuasive Obama will find any specific suggestions. On the campaign trail, his view of the law was often elusive. He has talked about the importance of judges having broad experience. But he has also praised the Supreme Court decision striking down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban, a ruling that many progressive lawyers did not like. Obama also disagreed with the court’s decision that the death penalty may not be applied to child rapists, a case in which the court’s most conservative members dissented.”
Only time will tell what impact ACS will have in government.
To read the full article, click on this link.