Thread by @shrikanth_krish

I was not very familiar with Federalist society until recently

An organization that has played a central role in promoting the idea of Originalism, fighting liberal notions of "living constitution" and inspiring a generation of conservative judges on US Supreme court

(Contd)

Here's an interesting talk organized by the Society back in the 80s featuring one of its stalwarts Robert Bork

fedsoc.org/events/address…

As conservatives in India lament the increasing politicization of our court, it is about time to reflect on whether a similar society can be considered in India to create a culture of judicial conservatism

Ofcourse India is a little different in that reverence for the Constitution is much less among Indian conservatives than among American conservatives.

Quite the opposite in fact

But nevertheless a conservative intellectual legal tradition can emerge in India not so much centered on the 1950 Constitution per se, but taking inspiration from the remarkable stability of Hindu law over the past 2000 years..

Ofc this cannot be based on honoring actual strictures in ancient law books that may be outdated, but rather by making the distinction between "SanAtana" and "Yuga" Dharma - and gleaning general principles from ancient law that can and should override the zeitgeist of any era

Here's more on the Federalist society

fedsoc.org/about-us

The spirit of the Federalist Society is best summed up by these two great Robert Bork quotes who was a central figure in the early years of the society -

"A society deadened by the smothering network of laws while finding release in moral chaos is not likely to be either happy or stable"

"Modernity, the child of the Enlightenment, failed when it became apparent that the good society cannot be achieved by unaided reason"

There is definitely room for a legal movement in India that is focused on general principles of virtue gleaned from the ancient books (as opposed to specific strictures from them)

Such a movement should also guard the legal culture against the evils of whiggish historicism, the glorification of reason and the susceptibility to zeitgeist-driven sentiment of the day