ACS South Carolina: Lawyer Chapter Interest Meeting

Join South Carolina Lawyers seeking to launch a SC Lawyer Chapter for an interest meeting on Zoom. All are welcome! See below for excerpts from the invitation from Elliotte Quinn, attorney at Steinberg Law Firm, to join this movement.

Dear Fellow South Carolina Lawyer,

Seemingly every day I read news of events that I never contemplated occurring in our American democracy. I of course knew that there was a far right that advocated for wildly different policies than the progressive policies I prefer, but I always naively assumed that democracy and the rule of law were fundamental principles that we all agree on and respect. […].

While indisputable that numerous problems caused the dumpster fire that is America in 2026, one significant cause has been the steady drift of the federal judiciary towards an activist conservative jurisprudence that privileges conservative political positions, corporations, and the executive branch at the expense of ordinary citizens and constitutional rights. The judiciary should serve as a check on the excesses of the executive branch, ensuring the executive complies with the rule of law. Instead, by favoring unitary executive theories and conceding increasing power to the executive branch, the federal judiciary laid the groundwork for Trump, his excesses, and his disregard for the rule of law.

To give credit where due, conservatives were brilliant strategists in establishing and aggressively promoting the Federalist Society in the early 1980s. The Federalist Society not only advanced a legal theory for conservatives to organize behind, it also became conservative politicians’ de facto authority on vetting judicial nominees. For decades, progressives have not adequately responded to conservatives’ politicization and weaponization of the judiciary through the Federalist Society.

In 2001, progressives created The American Constitution Society (“ACS”) as the progressive counterweight to the Federalist Society. While still not as well-known, well-funded, or influential as the Federalist Society or as it should be, ACS is an incredibly worthwhile and powerful organization. From 2020 to 2025, former Senator Russ Feingold was ACS’s President. In 2026, Phil Brest took over as ACS’s President, having last served as President Biden’s White Senior Counsel in charge of judicial nominations. Former board members include Attorney General Eric Holder and California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu. In 2024, ACS had an annual budget of nearly five million dollars. Today, twenty-five years after the creation of ACS, we still do not have a lawyer chapter in South Carolina. We also do not have a student chapter at Charleston School of Law and the student chapter at USC Law School appears to be defunct or minimally active. I am writing to ask for your help changing that. It is time for progressive South Carolina lawyers to quit ceding the field and stand up for the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Will you please become a member of ACS and join me in founding a lawyer chapter in South Carolina?

For more information on what a South Carolina Lawyer Chapter would do, and for Zoom access information, please register here.