Our mission is to protect the Constitution and rule of law against rising threats posed by illiberal forces in our society. That includes the authoritarian drift of certain elements within the conservative legal movement, which in recent years have come to embrace a series of positions antithetical to the American Constitutional system.
The Society was founded as Checks & Balances in 2018 by a group of conservative pro-democracy lawyers and jurists who have served at the highest levels of government in previous Republican administrations. They shared a belief in the rule of law, the independence of the criminal justice system, and the Constitution.
Through our public education, events, and programming, we offer a genuine pro-democracy alternative to the compromised legal institutions that exist on the right today. In the years since our founding, we’ve heard from those who feel alienated from the existing institutions, but feel they have no avenue to express their views. We are creating that community.
And we want you to be a part of it. Become a member today.
Mission Statement
We are a group of attorneys who would traditionally be considered conservative or libertarian. We believe in the rule of law, the power of truth, the independence of the criminal justice system, the imperative of individual rights, and the necessity of civil discourse. We believe these principles apply regardless of the party or persons in power. We believe in “a government of laws, not of men.”
We believe in the Constitution. We believe in free speech, a free press, separation of powers, and limited government. We have faith in the resiliency of the American experiment. We seek to provide a voice and a network for like-minded attorneys to discuss these ideas, and we hope that they will join with us to stand up for these principles.