Over 800 lawyers, judges, clerks and law students crowded auditoriums at Georgetown University Monday night to attend the first session of the American Constitution Society (ACS), a newly-founded national association of liberal and progressive legal professionals.

The society—which is intended as a counterweight to the influential conservative Federalist Society—includes as directors prominent Harvard Law School (HLS) professors Christopher F. Edley and Laurence H. Tribe, Tyler professor of constitutional law.

Members of ACS plan to open a chapter at HLS this fall.

Speakers at the kickoff event, the first meeting since the national society was founded this spring, included Tribe, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Elaine Jones of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund and Walter Dellinger, the former acting solicitor general. Although the speakers spoke on a range of topics, they all stressed the need to develop a forum for lawyers to debate liberal and progressive ideas.

Organizers called the gathering a success as it generated an overflow turnout—speeches were simulcast to 500 attendees who couldn’t fit in the main auditorium.

In an interview, Tribe cited as an impetus for the society the success conservative forums have had in promoting their viewpoints within the legal profession.

“[Conservative] groups like the Federalist Society, and think-tanks like the Heritage Foundation have had enormous success in helping to place their members as law clerks, within the executive branch or on the bench,” Tribe said.

As a result, Tribe said he believes that the conservative viewpoint is now over-represented in the judiciary—to the detriment of liberal concerns which have been squeezed out by a judiciary that favors a more conservative, literalistic interpretation of law and the constitution.