Steve Dillard

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For the baseball player, see Steve Dillard (baseball).

Stephen "Steve" Louis A. Dillard (born November 13, 1969 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a federalist and Roman Catholic. Dillard is the founder/creator of the weblog Southern Appeal, which he started while he was serving as a law clerk to Judge Daniel A. Manion of the Seventh Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals in 2002. Dillard initially blogged under the pseudonym “feddie” (shorthand for "Federalist") in order to comply with the ethics required of federal judicial law clerks and to ensure that Dillard's views weren’t imputed to his judge or the Court. After Dillard completed his clerkship he revealed his identity to the blogosphere. According to Dillard, it was by no means an Article III Groupie moment, but the announcement was mentioned by several bloggers. Dillard has also blogged at RedState-offshoot Confirm Them and he co-founded The Coalition for Darfur. Dillard is primarily known in the blogosphere for his tireless support of Judge William H. Pryor Jr.'s confirmation to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, his vigorous opposition to President Bush's appointment of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court of the United States and Mayor Rudy Giuliani's bid for the Republican presidential nomination ("Catholics Against Rudy"), and for coining the phrase "stare decisis is fo' suckas."

Beyond blogging activities, Mr. Dillard is an appellate lawyer in Macon, Georgia with the law firm of James, Bates, Pope & Spivey LLP. Dillard has been a member of the Georgia State Bar since 1996. Dillard has contributed essays to several legal encyclopedias on the lives of the following legal luminaries: Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Joseph Story, Judge/Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, and Judge/Attorney General Griffin Bell, as well as penning entries on landmark Supreme Court decisions. He is a frequent lecturer at law schools throughout the country, having given speeches to Federalist Society student chapters at the University of Notre Dame, University of Virginia, and Washington and Lee, to name just a few. Dillard is also the "legal arm" of the morning show on Newstalk 940 WMAC (and a frequent co-host), having served in that capacity since 1998. Dillard hit the national airwaves during the Harriet Miers debacle when he was interviewed on NPR's "All Things Considered" for a segment entitled, "Life in the Blogosphere's Right Lane." He has also appeared on "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "Catholics Answers Live." Finally, Dillard served as a legal-policy advisor to Governor Mike Huckabee during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Mr. Dillard has been married to the former Krista McDaniel of Macon, Georgia for over 14 years, and they have three children. He is a graduate of Samford University and the Mississippi College School of Law (cum laude).

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