Federalist Society Head Tells Group He’s Searching for Successor

(Bloomberg) -- The longtime head of the Federalist Society, the influential US conservative legal organization, is preparing to step down and has started searching for his successor, according to an email obtained by Bloomberg News.

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Eugene Meyer, who has served as the executive director, CEO or president of the nonprofit organization for more than 40 years, said he is in good health but is beginning the search now in the hopes it will move “expeditiously and carefully but without undue pressure.”

“The Society is doing well, and this transition can, and I trust will, lead to even better things ahead in what will undoubtedly continue to be a very challenging environment,” Meyer wrote in an email sent to Federalist Society members. The group has retained CarterBaldwin, an executive recruitment firm, to lead the search for the new CEO and president.

A spokesman for the Federalist Society didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meyer’s move comes as the Federalist Society, which was instrumental in suggesting conservative Supreme Court justices during Donald Trump’s administration, faces new pressure from allies of the former president who say it has been too timid and business-friendly. While the Federalist Society has long advocated for a traditional and restrained approach to the courts, younger members influenced by Trump have pushed for judges and lawyers to more aggressively push conservative policies.

Meyer’s departure could leave room for a Federalist Society with closer ties to Trump-adjacent populism. Last year, he acknowledged the growing tension within the organization.

“I think it would be fair to say there’s been some movement over time more in the direction of interpreting the Constitution and less in the direction of pure judicial restraint,” he said in a Politico interview.

The Federalist Society, an association of lawyers and judges with thousands of members, has spent decades pushing US courts to the right. The organization has been credited with orchestrating the string of recent conservative victories at the Supreme Court, including the rollback of abortion rights, environmental protections and race-based affirmative action in higher education.

Former Federalist Society head Leonard Leo, who is now the group’s chairman, wrote the list of potential Supreme Court nominees used by Trump, according to a Washington Post report.

Meyer has played a central role in the Federalist Society’s rise to power over the last several decades, and his name has become synonymous in Washington with the conservative legal juggernaut.

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