When Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono addressed the American Constitution Society's convention in June, she painted a dire picture for progressives over President Donald Trump's reshaping of the federal judiciary.

She described the "breakneck" pace that Trump, aided by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has been able to add a stunning amount of circuit court judges to the bench and said that they "broke in almost every room norm and tradition to get there."

But, the Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee noted, Republicans didn't get there alone. They had the help of conservative outside groups like the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation.

Senator Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.

"Half the battle is showing up. So you folks have shown up," Hirono told the crowd at the left-leaning group's convention. "And showing up means not just physically being here, but to stay the course, because it's going to take us continuing to be on course to turn the tide against the court packing that is going on. And believe me, the Federalist Society has been spending decades and millions of dollars to get their judges to their into their lifetime positions."

"So the integrity and independence of the federal judiciary is at stake," she added.

Just a few months later, the American Constitution Society has a chance to rethink the way it can play a role for judicial nominees for a future Democratic administration, as it searches for a new leader to replace former ACS president Caroline Fredrickson, who stepped down earlier this year.

While the conservative Federalist Society has been a major player in Trump's judicial nominees, liberal groups aren't necessarily looking to follow the same model—have one organization be a key resource for a Democratic White House on the courts.

"We care a lot about ideas," said Pamela Karlan, a professor at Stanford Law School and chair of the ACS board of directors. "And so we want somebody who has, essentially, ideas about how to best incubate and disseminate great ideas from our network, because we think the strength of our group is in the people."

Pamela Karlan, of Stanford Law School.

The ACS presidential search is still in its early stages. Karlan said the group is keeping the process under wraps, partly out of concerns that naming candidates for the top job could cause people to withdraw from consideration.

The group has tapped the consulting firm Korn Ferry for the search. And a description of the kinds of candidates ACS is searching for offers broad ideas about the organization's priorities down the road.

"ACS' President will engage and strengthen ACS' vibrant network and grow its membership, help to place the next generation of talented and progressive legal professionals in positions of leadership, and grow the state and federal judicial pipelines with nominees from diverse backgrounds who are committed to a progressive understanding of the Constitution and the law, and who reflect the diversity of our country," the description reads in part.

Karlan said that generally, polling shows liberal voters might not care as much about the judiciary as conservatives do. Getting more people on the left to care about the courts is one of their future goals that a new president may need to focus on.

"And so one question is how to, you know, how to get out into the public more of a discussion about the judiciary," she said. "I think recent events have made that more salient than they would have been in the past."

But she distanced herself from the possibility of ACS being a one-stop shop for liberals seeking to outsource work on judicial picks, saying the group technically doesn't view itself as a partisan organization.