Will’s post arguing that the Federalist Society is a network reminds me of a long running debate about why there isn’t a liberal network of lawyers of similar stature. Sure, most law schools have American Constitution Society chapters; but it’s common to hear liberal students lament that joining the ACS isn’t even a path to getting a good fed courts outline, that alone a good clerkship. FedSoc, on the other hand, has always had the well-earned reputation of being extremely effective at opening doors for its members. (At least, that’s the impression from the outside—I’m not a member.)

What explains the difference?

In an article published in Politico earlier this year, Evan Mandery presented the standard explanation of why the FedSoc is more influential than the ACS. Mandery explains that the FedSoc has three advantages over the ACS: (1) it is older, (2) advances an agenda more appealing to rich donors, and (3) has a unifying ideological commitment (originalism) that brings conservatives together.

These arguments all miss the mark. Simply put, there is a market for FedSoc; there isn’t a market for a liberal equivalent.

The reason for this discrepancy is that the legal profession is overwhelmingly liberal. In The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers, my collaborators and I find that over 60 percent of lawyers are liberal. And our subsequent research on law clerks and law professors suggests that more like 75 to 85 percent of elite lawyers are liberal.

The result of this ideological skew in the profession is that anyone hiring lawyers without respect to ideology is going to hire liberals most of the time. This means that people trying to hire for ideological reasons are going to make a lot of “mistakes” if they hire without knowing the candidates ideology. Additionally, the people that are trying to hire for ideological reasons—e.g., the people in charge of selecting political appointees or picking new judges—know perfectly well that lawyers are smart enough to be coy about their ideological commitments when good opportunities depend on coming off as conservative for a short period.

So how can people trying to hire conservatives make sure they don’t accidentally give good jobs to liberal lawyers? Make conservative lawyers send a costly signal that demonstrates their ideological bonafides. Joining FedSoc and attending talks, debates, and social events for years is that costly signal. There was a demand for providing that signal, and the FedSoc met it.

Liberal decision-makers don’t need to rely on the same kind of costly signals when hiring; they can just assume lawyers are liberal and be right most of the time. And they especially don’t need to bother with costly signals once conservatives are taking on the heavy lifting of doing the ideological sorting. Want to hire a liberal law student as your law clerk? Just make sure you don’t hire someone in FedSoc.

So any explanation for why ACS is less influential than FedSoc that focuses on why it is tough for liberals to organize misses the point. The difference in influence isn’t because liberals can’t get their act together; it exists because they don’t need to.