page_title: Philodemic Society
section_title: Notable Philodemicians
hierarchical_section_title: Philodemic Society / Notable Philodemicians
caption_attribution_description: English: Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
context_page_description: The Philodemic Society is a student debating society at Georgetown University. It was founded in 1830 by Father James Ryder, S.J. The Philodemic is among the oldest such societies in the United States, and is the oldest secular student organization at Georgetown. The society's motto, "Eloquentiam Libertati Devinctam" reminds its members that they are pursuing Eloquence in Defense of Liberty.
  Debates are held weekly on Thursdays at 8 p.m. in the Philodemic Room in Healy Hall. In recent years, the Philodemic has taken a more active role in engaging other prominent debating societies on the Eastern seaboard. The Philodemic maintains several intercollegiate friendships, most notably with the Demosthenian Literary Society of the University of Georgia, the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society at the University of Virginia.
context_section_description: William Matthews Merrick (Class of 1831), Congressman from Maryland, Federal Judge
  Daniel Carroll Digges (Class of 1833), Maryland politician
  Alexander Dimitry, American diplomat, linguist and scholar; ambassador to Costa Rica and Nicaragua
  Charles Constantine Pise, first (and, to date, only) Roman Catholic Chaplain of the United States Senate
  Solomon Hillen Jr., Congressman from Maryland, Mayor of Baltimore
  Francis Kernan (Class of 1836), Senator from New York
  William Wing Loring, Officer in the United States Army, the Confederate Army, and Egyptian Army
  James Ryder Randall, poet and author of "Maryland, My Maryland"
  Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, (Class of 1848), Canadian senator
  Bernard G. Caulfield (Class of 1848), Congressman from Illinois
  Tomás Herrán (Class of 1863), Colombian diplomat, namesake of the Hay–Herrán Treaty of 1903
  Edward Douglass White (Class of 1863), 9th Chief Justice of the United States
  Stephen Russell Mallory, Jr. (Class of 1869), Senator and Representative from Florida
  Agustín de Iturbide y Green, Prince of Iturbide (Class of 1884), heir to the Mexican throne
  Condé Benoist Pallen (Class of 1880), Catholic editor and author
  Condé Montrose Nast (Class of 1894), noted magazine publisher
  Robert J. Collier (Class of 1894), editor of Collier's Weekly
  Philip Hart (Class of 1934), former Senator from Michigan
  Richard Alan Gordon (Class of 1950), assistant dean of Georgetown University Law Center
  Antonin Scalia (Class of 1957), Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
  Robert S. Bennett (Class of 1961), noted American attorney
  Robert Shrum (Class of 1965), noted political consultant
  Frank Keating (Class of 1966), 25th Governor of Oklahoma
  John G. Koeltl (Class of 1967), Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
  James A. Ryder, prominent Jesuit leader and first president of the Philodemic Society
caption: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Antonin Scalia was a member of the Philodemic Society during the 1950s
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