In the span of a generation, conservative intellectuals and activists have succeeded in mounting a potent challenge to liberal legal theories that once held unquestioned sway over America’s courts and law schools. They have built a robust infrastructure of legal advocacy groups, think tanks, and networking organizations that have shifted the courts toward a more conservative understanding of the law. In a just-published but already widely acclaimed book, The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement (Princeton University Press, 2008), political scientist Steven M. Teles of the University of Maryland provides a compelling account of the movement’s rise to power and influence. Teles will present his insights at an event that is part of the Brookings Institution’s “Governing Ideas” book series. Jack Balkin of Yale Law School and Michael S. Greve of AEI will comment. William Galston of the Brookings Institution will moderate.

This book forum is cosponsored by the Brookings Institution.