This weekend, the American Constitution Society ("
ACS") had it's
third national convention.
Two presidential hopefuls popped by on the first day alone, with wonderful speeches by both Sen. Joe Biden and Sen. John Edwards. And hundreds of law students and lawyers, including judges, professors, and activists, congregated for four days of intense discussion and action. Much of the weekend focused on the progressive response to the nomination of John Roberts.
But not a peep about it on this website.
While ACS has moved light years in its first few years and made a huge influence in the legal community, it's invisible in the blogosphere.
While ACSblog has had hundreds of thousands of page views in its first year, it's not listed on any blogrolls. Aside from a few mentions on bobnewswire, their blog is almost non-existent to the blog world.
So, I naturally see little discussion either about their publications, panel discussions, and other products, despite having timely and significant speakers like this month's address by Chuck Schumer on the nomination process (and that one was even co-sponsored by CAP).
Even a quick check of google shows how little traction ACS gets on the Internet. The google search of "ACS" has the organization barely on the first page, outranked by even the Australian Computer Society. Believe me, blogs like Josh Marshall's Talkingpointsmemo.com ("TPM") don't have the same problem.
A few months back (with little fanfare around these parts), ACS launched its "Constitution in the 21st Century" mission to re-establish a progressive vision of our Constitution. This weekend, ACS launched its first slate of issue groups dedicated to pushing this project forward. If the Roberts nomination provides one thing for us, it's the opportunity for a visible national debate about constitutional interpretation and its impact on everyday Americans.
ACS is on the forefront of the progressive message and substance during this brief window. In fact, the Sunday breakfast panel focused primarily on the need to shine a spotlight on judicial philosophy (and the myths about "activism"). So, I hope those of you around here will maybe jump over to their blog to read about the convention and take a peek at some of its high profile speeches. Soon, videos of every panel on torture, religion, media, privacy, democracy and the rest will be up on the ACSblog, and the Senators' speeches already are up (as well as a great speech by Elaine Jones). To keep ACS a vibrant member of this progressive/moderate community, please pop by their blog every now and then and link/diary some of their interesting postings.
To join or contribute to ACS, please go here. They've provided many scholarship and stipend opportunities to law students, so donations go to a great cause. And they are looking to open more and more student and lawyer chapters, so if you're interested in starting one up email info@acslaw.org.
And, of course, update your blogrolls and, please google-swarm "ACS" as much as possible.
Everything that's talked about here, worked on by activists, and discussed by the pundits stems from one thing: the law. And we now have a powerful new organization of progressive lawyers. Why not make them a full partner in the blogosphere? So, please, include ACS in the discussion.