[1] The banquet, which lasts 4 hours, features music by the United States Marine Band as well as a political roast.
[5] One of the evening's activities includes the playful nomination of a presidential candidate by the Club's leadership.
[7] In 2004, the Club nominated Jack Valenti, the former president of the Motion Picture Association of America.
The club was formed by four southerners in the Willard Hotel to celebrate the birthday of Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
"[10] In addition to its January banquet in Washington, the club previously held an annual summer picnic.
He described the club as one that "met once a year to listen to patriotic music and 'hear some funny political speeches'" and said "he did not think his membership in such a once-a-year group violated the canons of judicial ethics.
"[12] In 1994, after a boycott by President Bill Clinton over a lack of women in the club, the club admitted its first women members, Sandra Day O'Connor, Elizabeth Dole, and Katharine Graham, whose father, Eugene Meyer, had also been a member.