The change in leadership is not expected to change the direction of the 42-year-old organization, said Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the Federalist Society.
“I don’t believe the transition to a new CEO will have any impact on the company’s mission, direction or the work it has been doing,” Leo told the Post.
Leo said the group’s new leader “must be someone who can lead the conservative legal movement and continue to promote the group as a critical thought leader on constitutional law and the rule of law.”
The organization has hired Carter Baldwin Executive Search to assist with the search for a new leader, according to Meyer’s email, and Leo said the search will begin “late spring.”
The Federalist Society has supported all six of the current Supreme Court’s conservative justices, including Chief Justice John G. Roberts. But the society’s influence has grown under the Trump administration, with Leo serving as Trump’s informal judicial adviser and helping the society fill the court with justices who take a fundamentalist approach to constitutional interpretation. In 2022, the six conservatives voted to overturn the Constitution. Roe v. WadeA landmark ruling in 1973 guaranteed the right to abortion.
During President Trump’s term, the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed 174 district court judges, 54 circuit court judges and three Supreme Court justices, giving the Supreme Court a 6-3 conservative majority.
But Trump’s relationship with Federalist Society leaders and allies has deteriorated since he left office. In February, The Washington Post reported that Trump complained that Justice Department leadership was too weak in his first year in office, that his Supreme Court nominees tried to appear too “independent,” and that the court system was generally working against him as he faces legal crises in multiple jurisdictions.
The former president was convicted by a Manhattan jury last week of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to adult film actresses ahead of the 2016 election. The former president faces an additional 54 charges in three other cases, including two related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Leo said he expects the Federalist Society will continue to be influential in shaping the U.S. justice system.
Leo told The Washington Post on Thursday that Meyer had led the organization through “many years of successful evolution and transformation” and that he was “thrilled by the opportunity to continue our work under new leadership.”
