Abstract
The Federalist Society is the leading professional association within the conservative legal movement. Yet, despite the growth of the Federalist Society from the 1980s to the twenty-first century, there has been no significant research conducted on American presidents’ attendance and participation in Federalist Society events. An investigation into their speeches to the Federalist Society demonstrates that Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush eagerly, openly, and optimistically affiliated with the society and the broader conservative legal movement through diverse usages of movement affiliation rhetoric. A careful analysis of these presidents’ movement affiliation rhetoric shows that each president uniquely positioned himself in relation to the Federalist Society even as each president engaged in political agendas of celebration, combat, and movement planning and mobilization before Federalist Society audiences.
