Volume 3: Issue 3
An Address by the Honorable Daniel Troy
MR. TROY: Thank you very much. It is always a pleasure to get outside the beltway. You know what Justice O’Connor said about Washington, D.C.? She said it’s a city that has even more lawyers than it does people. I know you all want to hear about the First Amendment, which is not going to be the topic of my talk. It is a pleasure to speak to the Federalist Society, but it actually makes me feel a little bit old. I remember when there was no Federalist Society. Culture counts. The Federalist Society was created in reaction to a particular culture that pervaded the law schools during the 1980s. And reflecting on the Federalist Society’s effect on that culture and on the legal culture generally caused me to think about FDA’s culture, as well. Even though I’m far from a sociologist, I want to share with you some reflections about FDA’s culture so that you can better understand the context in which FDA’s decisions, including decisions about the First Amendment, get made. One word of warning up front — when the eminent sociologist Daniel Bell was asked what he specialized in, he quipped, “I specialize in generalizations.”