Message from ACS President Russ Feingold
Dear ACS Partners,
The United States is confronting a multi-dimensional assault on our democracy, from partisan judges who are disregarding precedent and the rule of law, to the well-funded far Right effort to radically rewrite the Constitution, to state legislatures passing discriminatory and devastating laws that take aim at our fundamental freedoms. There is something all of these threats have in common: undermining the rule the law. And that’s where the American Constitution Society (ACS) comes in. Our impressive impact this year is laid out in more detail in the attached report, but I wanted to highlight two priorities here.
This year, ACS focused on securing the promise of a multiracial democracy and defeating authoritarianism. We know that to have a multiracial democracy, we need a multiracial judiciary. That’s why we invested further in our Path to the Bench project, making us the only progressive organization with 55 working groups in 42 states, focused on identifying, recruiting, and supporting diverse, qualified judicial candidates. Thanks to our working groups, roughly a third of President Biden’s appointed judges were recommended by ACS or are otherwise affiliated with ACS.
ACS also was on the frontlines this year of raising awareness about and building resistance to the far-Right movement aiming to rewrite the U.S. Constitution. Too few people are paying attention to this existential threat. It will not matter who is in the White House or on the bench if the far-Right is able to convene an Article V Convention, throwing this country into a constitutional unknown. That’s why we used every tool in our toolbox, from programs to our podcast, “Broken Law,” from op-eds to targeted outreach with elected leaders to counter this threat in 2023.
We know that as tumultuous as this year was, next year will be even more so with the behemoth that is the 2024 election cycle. We invested big this year in expanding and strengthening our progressive legal infrastructure across the country so we will be best positioned to protect the rule of law, vindicate our fundamental freedoms, and secure the promise of our multiracial democracy going forward.
Sincerely,
Russ Feingold
ACS President