History
In the fall of 1995, during their first semester at Texas Law, Adam Ross and Dennis Donley had the idea to found a law journal that would counterbalance the prevailing leftwing voice so common in the average law school community. With this idea in mind, they approached Professor Lino Graglia to serve as the new journal’s faculty advisor. Despite Professor Graglia’s recommendation that Adam and Dennis focus on their studies rather than on a new law journal, they pressed forward. Professor Graglia soon joined them, and served as faculty advisor up until 2019.
Over the course of their first and second years of law school, Adam and Dennis assembled a team of conservative and libertarian law students to help start the new venture. They had neither office space nor money, but they made up for it with a shared vision for success and a nationwide network of key conservative and libertarian supporters. In the spring of 1997, they published the very first issue of the Texas Review of Law & Politics.
Since then, TROLP has published every semester for over 20 years. It has grown from a mere idea to a leading law journal. It has evolved from a law journal to one of the most influential and well-connected Texas-based networks in the nation—a network that includes Justice Clarence Thomas, Judge Priscilla Owen, Judge Jerry Smith, Judge Edith Jones, Justice Don Willett, Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Mike Lee, Senator John Cornyn, and Governor Greg Abbott.