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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana now has a new pro chapter of the American Constitution Society, giving the national progressive legal network a stronger foothold in a state where conservative and libertarian legal groups have long been active.
The Hoosier Lawyer Chapter was organized by Indianapolis attorney Joe Brinkman, deputy director and legal counsel for the city’s Office of Public Health and Safety.
Brinkman says the move reflects renewed interest in building a statewide community for lawyers with progressive legal views.
“This is just a critical time in regards to upholding the constitutional order and the rule of law,” Brinkman said. “People are hungry for community. Especially progressive attorneys and legal professionals across this state, as well as in conservative states all over the country.”
He was involved in a previous effort to establish a statewide ACS chapter a few years ago, when he returned to Indiana after completing law school. But the pandemic scuppered that plan.
“People moved during that time and a lot of changes occurred,” Brinkman said. “But I think that this time we have a lot of really good momentum. We have a really strong foundation to grow this chapter in the years to come.”
Founded in 2001, the American Constitution Society describes itself as a national network of lawyers, scholars and students focused on constitutional interpretation and how legal rules affect democratic institutions.
It’s ideological counterpoint, The Federalist Society, has long maintained law school and professional chapters in Indiana, and characterizes itself (according to its national website) as “a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order,” and states that the judiciary’s duty is “to say what the law is, not what it should be.”
Brinkman sees the ACS’s Indiana chapter attracting attorneys who want to participate in nonpartisan civic and legal programming. The group’s steering committee, he said, currently includes about 15 to 20 people. He estimates the ACS has approximately 50 members statewide, if one counts law school chapters and national members who live in Indiana.
Planning for the chapter’s relaunch began over the summer and culminated in an October event that drew law students and practicing attorneys from all over Indiana.
“It wasn’t that hard,” Brinkman said. “People were motivated and hungry to have a community and establish a progressive legal network across the state.”
Indiana isn’t the only place where the ACS has seen a resurgence.
“I can confirm that we have had a steady increase of interest in ACS throughout the year,” said Meghan J. Paulas, ACS president of network advancement. “Especially as the rule of law has been increasingly under attack from the Trump administration.”
Paulas says that since the beginning of 2025 more than 25 chapters have either launched or been revived, for a total of nearly 250 active ACS student and professional chapters. In early December alone, the ACS has held organizational calls with two reviving professional chapters.
“We are seeing firsthand the energy of law students and lawyers across the country, including in Indiana, to work together to uphold the rule of law, protect our freedoms, and challenge threats to our constitutional democracy,” Paulas said.
Locally, the advent of a second Trump term certainly hasn’t hurt the Hoosier Lawyer Chapter’s recruiting prospects.
“I don’t think that the interest we’ve received is all just a reaction to the Trump administration, but I think it’s certainly in part a reaction to that,” Brinkman said.
Programming for the new chapter is expected to include public panels, mentorship initiatives, and collaboration with ACS student chapters at Notre Dame Law School, IU Maurer School of Law, and IU McKinney School of Law. Brinkman considers working with students to be a priority.
“I would like our chapter to have a mentorship program where we can connect experienced senior attorneys with law students or recently graduated law students,” he said.
The ACS’s tax status limits the organization to educational, non-lobbying activities. The local chapter’s goals include “building a pipeline of progressive legal talent,” and encouraging participation in nonpartisan civic efforts such as election monitoring and pro bono work opportunities, along with engagement with the state’s judicial nomination process.
Steve Sanders, a professor at Indiana University Maurer School of Law and faculty adviser to the student ACS chapter there, said differences between student and lawyer chapters often come down to logistics and participation patterns. Student chapters, for instance, benefit from a ready-made audience.
“You have a captive audience for programming,” Sanders said.
Getting a practicing attorney to join an ACS chapter, or any group, for that matter, can be a tougher sell. Their schedule is already filled.
“The lawyer chapters face far more of an uphill battle getting people motivated to turn out,” Sanders said.
He hesitates to offer a guess about whether national political developments, such as the return of Donald Trump to the presidency, have helped increase interest in joining the ACS or creating new chapters. But he wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.
“It stands to reason that when people perceive the rule of law to be in crisis, one of the things they think they can do is at least get involved in an organization that is in sync with their legal views,” he said.
Brinkman said the chapter’s long-term goal is to garner participation from attorneys all over the state, not just from the Indianapolis area. He believes that making contacts with progressive lawyers in urban, suburban and rural regions is key and, to him, is the most critical item on the nascent organization’s “to do” list.
He’s currently spearheading the steering committee that will formalize the chapter, though he does not yet hold a formal title. The chapter plans to announce additional programming later this year.
“We want to build a statewide community of progressive legal professionals to advance the twin goals of building a pipeline of progressive legal talent and advancing progressive legal values in the state,” Brinkman said.•
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