![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/trump-mad.jpg\")
<\/a>Leading left-wing students and civil servants met this week at the American Constitution Society\u2019s national convention, and the message was loud and clear: The \u201cdeep state\u201d should be encouraged and expanded. (2016 file photo\/Drew Angerer\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n
Leading left-wing students and civil servants met this week at the American Constitution Society\u2019s national convention, and the message was loud and clear: The \u201cdeep state\u201d should be encouraged and expanded.<\/p>\n
The \u201cdeep state\u201d refers to the movement believed to exist within government to undermine President Donald Trump\u2019s policy efforts by thwarting his goals, leaking information to the press and engaging in other subversive activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hear a lot of language about draining the swamp and this idea about a deep state that somehow was going to thwart the intentions or the political mandate of the president,\u201d UCLA law professor Jon Michaels said, according to a report by the Washington Examiner\u2019s Ryan Lovelace.<\/a> \u201cI kind of embrace this notion of the \u2018deep state.’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to figure out exactly what , I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve hit our stride on that,\u201d Michaels said. \u201cBut from my understanding people are still kind of probing and poking around at what can be done and the creativity and resourcefulness of people is in some ways boundless and so I imagine what I would hope to see is kind of organic \u2014 \u2018loyal opposition\u2019 is probably too strong \u2014 but ways of having well-prepared, well-defined boundaries of opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe election of Donald Trump was an assault on the federal bureaucracy,\u201d said William Yeomans, an American University law professor who previously worked at the Justice Department, according to the Examiner. \u201cHis values are simply not consistent with the values of people who are committed to public service and who believe deeply in the importance of public service.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said at the conference senators should actively work to deny federal judges Trump appoints by using \u201cblue-slip\u201d procedural guidelines. The Senate\u2019s blue-slip procedure allows, as a courtesy, a state\u2019s senators, regardless of political affiliation, to have significant power in determining whether federal judges appointed for that state should be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot become a rubber stamp for the president\u2019s nominees and we must fight to prevent erosion of quality and independence of the federal judiciary,\u201d Hirono said, according to a separate report by Lovelace for the Examiner.<\/a><\/p>\n In addition to several speeches praising the deep state and suggesting ways to stop Trump\u2019s agenda, the conference\u2019s website states attendees were given \u201ctraining sessions\u201d meant to help people \u201cstand up to the new administration\u2019s attacks on our rights and constitutional order.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cACS\u2019s National Convention is the premier progressive legal event of the year, attracting nearly 1,000 of the nation\u2019s leading progressive lawyers, scholars, policymakers, judges, and law students,\u201d the conference\u2019s website states. \u201cThe convention provides a unique opportunity to learn about pressing legal issues from renowned experts while networking with legal leaders from across the country. This year\u2019s convention will include panel discussions on a wide range of timely topics and introduce a new Saturday format focusing on training sessions to help attendees stand up to the new administration\u2019s attacks on our rights and our constitutional order.\u201d<\/p>\n Other speakers at the conference<\/a> included Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who did not\u00a0speak about the\u00a0deep state,\u00a0and \u201cconstitutional rights advocate\u201d Khizr Khan, the Muslim lawyer who famously criticized Trump during the 2016 Democratic National Convention,<\/a> leading to a controversial response from then-candidate Trump.<\/p>\n