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MEET LEONARD LEO - KNIGHT OF MALTA - VATICAN AGENT WHO PACKS THE SUPREME COURT
Leonard A. Leo is an American lawyer and conservative legal activist. He was the longtime vice president of the Federalist Society, where he is co-chairman of the board of directors.
Leo has led campaigns to support the Supreme Court nominations ofJohn Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
While studying law at Cornell, Leo founded a student chapter of the Federalist Society in 1989, and subsequently went to work for the Society in 1991 in Washington, D.C.[1] He met Clarence Thomas while clerking in the Appeals Court and the two became close friends. Leo delayed his start at the Federalist Society to assist Thomas in his Supreme Court confirmation hearings.[2] Leo served at the Federalist Society in a variety of capacities for over 25 years. In 2019, The Washington Post reported that the Federalist Society had paid Leo an annual wage of more than $400,000 for a number of years.[2]
Leo took leave of absences from the Federalist Society to organize efforts in support of the confirmations ofJohn Roberts and Samuel Alitoto the U.S. Supreme Court.[2][4][5] Leo helped to push the Bush administration's nomination of Miguel Estrada to the judiciary.[2]
In 2016, after the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Leo helped arrange funding to rename George Mason University's Law School the Antonin Scalia Law School.[6] Leo was also identified by 2017 Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch as the person who first contacted Gorsuch about the possibility of President Donald Trump appointing Gorsuch to the seat vacated by Scalia's death.[7]
Leo was heavily involved in the campaign to prevent Merrick Garland from filling the Supreme Court seat previously occupied by Antonin Scalia;[8] the Judicial Crisis Network, linked to Leo, reported that it spent more than $7 million to prevent Garland's confirmation.[9]
Leo was connected totwo dozen conservative nonprofit entitiesthat raised over $250 million between 2014 and 2017.[2][10] Donors who contributed to this network includedCharles Koch and Rebekah Mercer.[11]
In 2017, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin wrote that Leo was "responsible, to a considerable extent, forone third of the justices on the Supreme Court."[12]
In 2017, Kris Mauren of the Acton Institute said that Leo has played "a significant leadership role in the selection and successful confirmation of a third of the currently sitting justices on the Supreme Court."[13]
In 2019, The Washington Post wrote of Leo, "few people outside government have more influence over judicial appointments now than Leo."[2] Leo described himself in 2019 as "a leader of the conservative legal movement."[2]
Leo has said of Mitch McConnell, who has broken records in seating Republican judicial nominees, that he was "the most consequential majority leader, certainly, in modern history."[14]
In January 2020, Leo announced that he would be leaving his position as vice president at the Federalist Society to start a new group, CRC Advisors.[15] CRC Advisors is a conservative public affairs consulting firm modeled off of the liberal advisory group Arabella Advisors.[16][15] CRC Advisors has lobbied against climate change mitigation policies.[17] Leo remained in his role as co-chairman of the Federalist Society's board of directors.[16]
On October 12, 2018, Leo appeared on an episode of Firing Line. When asked about a possible vacancy on the Supreme Court in a future election year, he replied by saying: "If a vacancy occurs in 2020, the vacancy needs to remain open until a president is elected and inaugurated and can pick. That's my position, period." Leo said he would advise President Trump not to act on an election year Supreme Court vacancy, saying he had never asked President Trump about the possible scenario, but that it was Leo's opinion that President Trump should not act on a 2020 Supreme Court vacancy, should it arise.[18]
After the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020, Leo said the impending Supreme Court nomination fight "can be an important galvanizing force for President Trump."[19] In September 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that Leo was involved in the selection process for a Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; this ultimately resulted in the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett.[20]
Personal life Leo is Roman Catholic.[2] He has seven children with his wife, Sally.[2] Their daughter Margaret died in 2007 at the age of 14 from spina bifida.[1] Leo has spoken about the profound impact her life had on him.[1][42][43]Leo is a member of the Knights of Malta, a Catholic lay organization.[44]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Leo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta