The Federalist Society

The Federalist Society
Basic facts
Location:	Washington, D.C.
Type:	501(c)(3)
Top official:	Sheldon Gilbert, President and CEO
Founder(s):	Steven Calabresi, David McIntosh, and Lee Liberman Otis
Year founded:	1982
Website:	Official website

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (The Federalist Society) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. As of December 2025, it described itself as a "group of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the current legal order." The society said it was founded on "the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be." The society reported a membership of more than 10,000 law students and 65,000 legal professionals.

Background

The Federalist Society was founded in 1982. According to the society's website in December 2025, "Law schools and the legal profession are currently strongly dominated by a form of orthodox liberal ideology which advocates a centralized and uniform society." Through the sponsorship of lectures, debates, conferences, and networking opportunities, the society said it sought to reform the legal system to "place a premium on individual liberty, traditional values, and the rule of law."

As of December 2025, The Federalist Society was organized into three main divisions. The organization's Student Division consisted of more than 10,000 law students. The division maintained chapters at each of the 204 ABA-accredited law schools across the country in addition to 10 chapters at ABA-accredited satellite campuses, non-accredited law schools, and undergraduate campuses. Membership in the society's Lawyers Division, established in 1986, exceeded 65,000 legal professionals and interested individuals with chapters in 90 cities across the United States. The society established its Faculty Division in 1999 "to help encourage constructive academic discourse."

Leadership

As of December 2025, the following individuals held leadership positions at The Federalist Society:

• Sheldon Gilbert, president and CEO
• Lee Liberman Otis, executive vice president and senior counselor to the president
• Dean Reuter, executive vice president

Work and activities

As of December 2025, The Federalist Society's activities were concentrated in four primary areas:

• Student activities
  The society maintained chapters at law schools throughout the country and organized annual student events, including lectures and debates.
• Practice activities
  The Federalist Society organized Practice Groups by area of law to connect its professional members and facilitate the exchange of ideas. The Practice Groups "track major developments in their area of expertise and ... organize events including FedSoc Forums, in person programs, and panels for several single day conferences like the annual Executive Branch Review Conference."
• Faculty activities
  The society's Faculty Division "seeks to facilitate dialogue among law professors interested in limited government, the separation of powers, Constitutional theory, the original understanding of the Constitution, and the importance of property rights and free markets."
• Lawyer activities
  The society's Lawyers Division included chapters that "organize over 400 programs and meetings, drawing a combined audience of over 25,000. ... The chapters host speeches, panel discussions and debates on current topics at the local and national level, and help members find opportunities to become actively involved in the policy and public interest worlds."

In addition to the society's programs and conferences, The Federalist Society hosted the annual National Lawyers Convention in Washington, D.C.

Judicial selection

As of December 2025, six of nine United States Supreme Court justices were either members or affiliates of The Federalist Society.

The Federalist Society has played a role in the judicial selection process for Republican presidents since the administration of former President Ronald Reagan (R). Reagan nominated Robert Bork and Antonin Scalia, both faculty advisors for The Federalist Society, to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. Lee Liberman Otis, a co-founder of the society, later led the judicial selection efforts of the White House Counsel's office under former President George H. W. Bush (R).

Former President George W. Bush (R) took The Federalist Society's recommendations into consideration before nominating federal judges. His nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, both had relationships with the society. In addition, roughly half of Bush's appointees to federal courts of appeals were society members.

As of December 2025, President Donald Trump (R) had appointed three society-affiliated justices to the U.S. Supreme Court: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Finances

The following is a breakdown of The Federalist Society's revenues and expenses from 2015 to 2021. The information comes from the Internal Revenue Service.

The Federalist Society financial data 2015-2021

Year	Revenue	Expenses
2015	$18.2 million	$15.1 million
2016	$26.6 million	$15.9 million
2017	$20.4 million	$18.2 million
2018	$22.7 million	$21.7 million
2019	$23.3 million	$23.2 million
2020	$20.4 million	$19.6 million
2021	$18.9 million	$17.7 million

See also

• What is an influencer?

External links

• The Federalist Society website
• The Federalist Society on Facebook
• The Federalist Society on X
• The Federalist Society on LinkedIn
• The Federalist Society on YouTube