The Exchanges

Q I love it. Well, well, you know how to win, and I'm going to get into that. You've been instrumental, first of all, Leonard, obviously, in myriad judicial nominations and elections at the highest levels. A lot of people, uh, credit, uh, your work with, uh, a lot of these amazing judges that were appointed by the last administration. Uh, you know, what, what makes a good judge?

A Oh, I think, I think it's really just three ingredients. One is smarts. And I learned this actually from Justice Scalia, who told me once, you always want a really smart judge, and the reason why you want a really smart judge is because they can't get snookered by the left. Alright, so that was what he said. So always smarts. Two, you want someone who's philosophically aligned, right? Someone who understands that the Constitution needs to be interpreted as it's written. You need to be committed to the rule of law in that respect. And then finally, courage. You need someone who's going to not flinch Uh, in the face of, in the face of criticism, uh, or risk, uh, you need people who are independent, courageous, determined, and are not going to bend to the political winds of the day.

AI assessment note: “I think it's really just three ingredients. One is smarts.”

Q decay in America, and one of the few bright spots really has been your leadership in restoring our judicial system to its constitutional role. For our audience who don't follow the courts closely, can you start with the history and context? How do we get here with the courts? Did some of the current problems start in the 19 sixties with the Warren court? Like, what's happened over our lifetimes?

A Sure. Well, really, Joe, this goes back to the 19 twenties or 19 thirties, when you had a bunch of, um, pointy-headed intellectuals in the law schools that said, uh, look, law really has no fixed meaning, no objective meaning. Uh, it, it's kind of whatever you ate for lunch. Uh, and that sort of slowly morphed into the 19 sixties era, where the left began to use the law as a really serious driver for social change. And you know, the Warren court played right into that, uh, and began to use law as a political tool. So that's really where it all began, Joe. And the Federalist Society in the early 19 eighties was meant to be a response to that, was meant to be a way to bring the law back to what it was, which is an objective, knowable, um, system, uh, that allowed people to govern their own affairs, Uh, and, and to create, uh, accountability and transparency inside of government.

AI assessment note: “this goes back to the 19 twenties or 19 thirties”

Q You know, the Federalist Society originated in the eighties. I think you started the first Cornell Law chapter in 86 as well, but didn't become a real force in Washington until the 19 nineties, I think. You could have obviously had a very successful career in law otherwise. Why, why'd you choose FedSoc? Why'd you go into it?

A Well, I, I think probably for two reasons, Joe. One was that, um, I really thought there was a relationship between our constitution and the preservation of human dignity, and I was really interested in trying to find ways to bolster the dignity and worth of people. And, and I thought being a part of an institution that was going to return the constitution to what it was meant to be was a way of really advancing freedom and human dignity. Also, you know, just realized in law school and maybe a little bit in my undergraduate education that law just played this very outsized role in, in our, in our, in our culture and in social affairs. And I felt that there were enough problems in our culture and in society that Maybe, maybe we could use law as a driver, just like the left did, uh, to try to achieve, um, a more just, uh, free society.

AI assessment note: “I, I think probably for two reasons, Joe. One was that”

Q It's sclerotic. It's tying us down. And, and a lot of them, they want to help. They want to change it. They want to be part of accelerating into the future and innovating. What should these people be learning about or doing to help here? Like, what are the battles they can engage in to kind of, kind of help fight for our country and fight against the administrative state?

A I think the most important thing that community needs to do is it needs to understand and then defend the constitution. Um, that's, that's gotta be what they do. There are three things that the Constitution provides that are, um, um, really important to accelerationists. One is less government, right? You can't do what, what that community wants to do without much smaller government. And the Constitution contemplates a limited government. Secondly, you have to have respect for property rights. No respect for property rights. You're not going to be able to engage in innovation. And fortunately, the constitution protects property in a number of different ways, including a very specific, very specific provisions about not taking property without just compensation. And then finally, decentralized control. Another thing that I think is really valuable in the context of innovation and accelerating innovation, right? Let a thousand flowers bloom, right? Give people the opportunity to figure out, um, what works best. And the only way to do that really well is to decentralize discretion and power. So less government, property rights, decentralization. Those are three things that acceleration is really believe in. And those are three things that are really at the core of our U S constitution. So that community needs to be standing up for the constitution. And supporting efforts to bring …

AI assessment note: “most important thing that community needs to do is it needs to understand and then defend the constitution”

Q think a lot of us would call upon you for advice on how to apply this across other civil society institutions. And you're obviously now working on that, uh, with Tenea, which I think is very inspiring. Like what institutions are most important to reform in your view? And how can, how can this problem be approached and what else should we be creating to do this for our society?

A That's a good question. Um, I think it is doable. It, these other areas are maybe a little bit harder than the law because they're more, um, they're a little more dispersed, but I, I do think, um, getting control of C-suites and boardrooms around the country. Is really, really important. Um, corporate America, um, uh, finance world, banks, um, they, they, they have an enormous amount of influence over our culture and our social life, and, and we need to be finding ways of, of getting, getting folks in the C-suites and in the boardrooms, um, who are just tired of our woke culture. Um, media and entertainment. Extremely, extremely important. And I'll tell you, Joe, there are a lot of people in the entertainment world who, um, who, who really understand, um, limited government and free society. Um, and they're not happy with the entertainment world, and they're looking for opportunities to band together, uh, and to be a part of new enterprises. So I think there's real opportunity there. We talked about education. I mean, these teachers, both in K through 12 and in higher ed, we need to find some pipelines of talent. To get the right people placed there. We need to have some influence over state, uh, over board of education races and local communities so that we can begin to have some sanity and local education. And then finally, you know, and this is one that I just started thinki…

AI assessment note: “getting control of C-suites and boardrooms around the country. Is really, really important.”