“The issue is never the issue. The issue is the revolution.”
—David Horowitz, quoting unnamed SDS leader.
Many dems subscribed to the conspiracy theory that the GOP was using the free trade agreements(NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA) as a means and method to roll back US regulatory law including the New Deal and this method had begun at the Federalist Society.
The dems opposed not just members of the Federalist Society, but also any appointee with a federalist paper trail.
This theory of the GOP using FTAs to roll back US regulatory law began with William Greiders' article in the Nation Magazine(Nov, 2001)
The Right and US Trade: Invalidating the 20th Century
After the article came out, Hillary would proclaim the Federalist Society to be the cornerstone of the VRWC and the dems would organize the Constitution Society as an offset to the Federalist Society.
Today, many democrats think Obama is in cahoots with GOP because he is pushing the Trans Pacific Partnership, an FTA that they think is bigger and worse that NAFTA.
The Republicans better hold firm on this. If McConnell blows it, it will be political suicide, not the sort of thing that McConnell wants to be the final event of his legacy. It will also be the end of the GOP as we know it.