It was reported at the time that the Democrats in the Senate did not want to confirm Keisler for four basic reasons. First, he was a co-founder of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group which many Democrats saw as seeking to control the federal judiciary. He had been on its board of directors from 1983 until 2000. Second, he clerked for Robert Bork, a conservative Republican judge whose nomination to the Supreme Court was embroiled in controversy before being rejected in 1987 by a Senate controlled by the Democrats. Third, during Keisler's tenure at the United States Department of Justice, he was instrumental in defending some of the most controversial policies of Republican President George W. Bush concerning the Global War on Terror. Finally, he was seen as being a possible Republican contender to the Supreme Court.