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The Federalist Society (founded in 1982) is a textbook case of what Madison would call a dangerous "minority faction" that has come to wield great power. The irony, of course, is that these folks claim to be acting on behalf of what they take to be Madison's original intent.
By "minority faction," what I mean is that The Federalist Society is dedicated to furthering a narrowly ideological (and not consensually-shared) take on the law that (coincidentally, they'd say) serves the self-interest of America's economic elite.
Madison failed to grasp how communications technology would obliterate the obstacle he thought geographical extension would pose to the emergence and political efficacy of such factions.
Here's an earlier thread outlining the radical, originalist agenda that The Federalist Society pursues. The aim is to virtually repeal the New Deal.
Here's an interesting 2015 (so pre-Trump Admin) interview with a political scientist who studied the Federalist Society closely. propublica.org/article/behind…
Federalist #10 is, of course, the touchstone for Madison's take on factions. avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/f…
Here's what Madison says: "If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote..."
"It [a minority faction] may clog the administration, it may convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the Constitution." But what if that faction absorbs the judiciary branch that decides what's constitutional and what's not?
When Madison and the other elite founders thought about dangerous factions, they always assumed that the legislature would be the place where they'd do their work...out in the open, and accountable to voters.
The genius (such as it is) of the Federalist Society is to target their political activism at the judiciary where people are appointed, not elected, and where they serve for life.
To their mind, what they're doing is restoring the "correct" interpretation of the Constitution to its rightful place in our political culture. Needless to say, every faction thinks it's doing "the right thing."
