Leonard Leo | |
|---|---|
 Leo in 2017 | |
| Born | 1965 (age 60–61) Northport, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Cornell University (BA,JD) |
| Title |
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| Political party | Republican |
| Movement | American Conservatism |
| Board member of | |
| Spouse | Sally |
| Children | 7 |
Leonard Anthony Leo (born November 1965) is an American lawyer, businessman, andconservative legal activist. He was the longtime vice president of theFederalist Society and is currently, along withSteven Calabresi, the co-chairman of the organization's board of directors.
Leo has created a network of influential conservative legal groups funded mostly by anonymous donors, includingThe 85 Fund andConcord Fund, which serve as funding hubs for affiliated political nonprofits.[1] He assistedClarence Thomas in hisSupreme Court confirmation hearings and led campaigns to support the nominations ofJohn Roberts,Samuel Alito,Neil Gorsuch,Brett Kavanaugh, andAmy Coney Barrett.
Leonard Anthony Leo[2] was born onLong Island,New York, in November 1965, and raised in suburban New Jersey. His grandfather, an Italian immigrant, was a vice president of clothing companyBrooks Brothers.[3][4][5] He grew up in a family of practicing Catholics.[3]
Leo's father was apastry chef, who died when Leo was a toddler.[6] When Leo was five years old, his mother married an engineer, and the family moved toMonroe Township, New Jersey, where he spent most of his childhood.[3][7] He graduated in 1983 fromMonroe Township High School, where he and his future wife, Sally, were both named "Most Likely to Succeed" in the school's yearbook.[8][6]
Leo attendedCornell University,[4] graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1987. While an undergraduate, he was an intern in the office of SenatorOrrin Hatch.[3] He then attendedCornell Law School, graduating with aJ.D. in 1989.[5] He thenclerked for JudgeA. Raymond Randolph of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[3][4][9]
Leo founded the student chapter of theFederalist Society at Cornell Law School in 1989, and he went to work for the Society in 1991 in Washington, D.C.[3] While a law clerk at the D.C. Circuit, Leo met then-judgeClarence Thomas, and the two became close friends. Leo delayed his start at the Federalist Society to assist Thomas in his Supreme Court confirmation hearings.[4] Leo served at the Federalist Society in various capacities for more than 25 years. In 2019,The Washington Post reported that the Federalist Society had paid Leo an annual salary of more than $400,000 for a number of years.[4]
Leo took leaves of absence from the Federalist Society to assist theBush administration's judicial nomination and confirmation efforts.[citation needed] This included the unsuccessful nomination ofMiguel Estrada to the District of Columbia Circuit, as well as the successfulconfirmations of John Roberts andSamuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.[4][10][11]
In 2017, legal analystJeffrey Toobin wrote that Leo was "responsible, to a considerable extent, for one third of the justices on the Supreme Court".[12]The Washington Post would later write that "few people outside government have more influence over judicial appointments now than Leo."[4]
During Donald Trump's first administration, the Federalist Society and Leo played a key role in advising Trump on selecting individuals for federal judicial nomination, something Trump described as "one of the greatest achievements" of his first term.[13] In 2016 Trump said, "We're going to have great judges, conservative, all picked by the Federalist Society."[14]
In May 2025, theU.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump had overstepped his executive authority when he imposed sweeping global tariffs. One of the three judges on the trade court was appointed by Trump himself in 2017, in consultation with the Federalist Society.[13][14] In a social media post on May 29, 2025, Trump denigrated Leo saying:[13][14]:
“I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges. I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real ‘sleazebag’ named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions. He openly brags how he controls Judges, and even Justices of the United States Supreme Court—I hope that is not so, and don’t believe it is! In any event, Leo left The Federalist Society to do his own ‘thing.’ I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations. This is something that cannot be forgotten! With all of that being said, I am very proud of many of our picks, but very disappointed in others."
After Trump's post, Leo sent out a statement saying "I'm very grateful for President Trump transforming the Federal Courts, and it was a privilege being involved. There's more work to be done, for sure, but the Federal Judiciary is better than it's ever been in modern history, and that will be President Trump's most important legacy."[15]
In 2016, Leo worked with Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell to block PresidentBarack Obama's replacement appointee,Merrick Garland. Leo's nonprofit, theJudicial Crisis Network reported that it spent more than $7 million to prevent Garland's confirmation.[16] After Donald Trump's election,The New York Times described Leo as playing a "critical role" in reshaping the judiciary through Trump's Supreme Court nominees, first contacting then-appellate-judge Neil Gorsuch about potentially nominating him to the vacancy created by Scalia's death.[17][18]
Leo'sCRC Advisors coordinated "a months-long media campaign" in support of Gorsuch's nomination, including "opinion essays, contributing 5,000 quotes to news stories, scheduling pundit appearances on television," as well as television and radio advertisements.[16][4][19] Between 2014 and 2017, entities affiliated with Leo raised over $250 million from donors includingCharles Koch andRebekah Mercer.[20][4][21]
In 2018,Politico reported that Leo had personally lobbied for Brett Kavanaugh's nomination for the Supreme Court seat vacated by Anthony Kennedy, raising upward of $15 million in support of his confirmation.[22] TheJudicial Crisis Network ran television and radio advertisements supporting Kavanaugh's nomination, and CRC advisors "hype[d] a theory thatChristine Blasey Ford’saccusation—that when they were both in high school, Kavanaugh pushed her on a bed and tried to remove her clothing—was actually a case of mistaken identity".[22]
In a 2018 interview, when asked about a possible vacancy on the Supreme Court during an election year, Leo stated that "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 Trump not to act on an election year Supreme Court vacancy, adding that he had never asked Trump about the possible scenario.[23]
After the death of JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020,The Wall Street Journal reported that Leo was involved in the selection process for Ginsburg's replacement. Ultimately, that process resulted in the October 2020appointment ofAmy Coney Barrett.[24][25]
Media outlets have described Leo as the "behind-the-scenes leader of a network of interlocking nonprofits that has raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support conservative judges and causes".[26] Groups affiliated with Leo include CRC Advisors,The 85 Fund;[27]the Concord Fund (formerly the Judicial Crisis Network);[27] theMarble Freedom Trust;[28] the Rule of Law Trust; and theBH Group, among others.[29]The New York Times reported that Leo described this network as an effort to match "a big-money operation" ofdark money spending aligned withDemocratic Party in 2020.[1] In 2022, the Marble Freedom Trust received a $1.6 billion donation from Illinois businessmanBarre Seid, described as "the largest known donation to a political advocacy group in U.S. history".[28][30]
An October 2022 article byKenneth P. Vogel inThe New York Times detailed how Leo, who had been best known for his role in conservative judicial appointments, developed a larger coalition on the right. In January 2020, Leo announced that he would be leaving his position as vice president at the Federalist Society to start a new for-profit group,CRC Advisors, a conservative political consulting firm.[31][32]. That same year, Leo was paid $500,000 by the Federalist Society.[1] Leo remained in his role as co-chairman of the Federalist Society's board of directors.[1][32] CRC Advisors continued to work with the Federalist Society, as well as with Leo's Concord Fund and legal activistEdward Whelan.[33]
Vogel wrote that Leo had built "one of the best-funded and most sophisticated operations in American politics, giving him extraordinary influence as he pushes a broad array of hot-button conservative causes and seeks to counter what he sees as an increasing leftward tilt in society."[34] In 2023,ProPublica described Leo's activism, namely through the Teneo Network,[a] as focusing on "'woke-ism' in corporations and education, 'one-sided journalism' and 'entertainment that's really corrupting our youth."[35]
Teneo, fromLatin, meaning "I hold" or "I grasp", says it has a plan to "crush liberal dominance" in journalism and education, as well as in business and politics.[36] It consists of various loosely affiliated non-profit and for-profit entities, which collectively spent nearly $504 million between mid-2015 and 2021. These include two for-profit firms Leo at least partly controls,BH Group andCRC Advisors, which are also compensated by funding hubs in Leo's network,The 85 Fund and theConcord Fund.[34][1]
The Teneo Network is a member of the advisory board ofProject 2025,[37] a collection ofconservative andright-wing policy proposals fromthe Heritage Foundation to reshape theUnited States federal government and consolidateexecutive power should theRepublican nominee win the2024 presidential election.[38]
Leo founded The 85 Fund, a nonprofit focused on conservative causes, in 2011.[39] In 2011 and 2012, Leo arranged for Liberty Consulting, owned byGinni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court JusticeClarence Thomas, to be paid $80,000 by The Polling Company, owned byKellyanne Conway and billed throughThe 85 Fund, formerly known as the Judicial Education Project.[40] Leo directed Conway not to mention Ginni Thomas in paperwork, tellingThe Washington Post, "The Polling Company, along with Ginni Thomas's help, has been an invaluable resource for gauging public attitudes," and that "Knowing how disrespectful, malicious and gossipy people can be, I have always tried to protect the privacy of Justice Thomas and Ginni."[26]
In June 2023,ProPublica reported that Leo helped organize and attended a fishing trip with JusticeSamuel Alito and businessmanPaul Singer, whose firms later were parties to litigation before the Supreme Court.[41]
In March 2023,Politico reported that in 2021 and 2022, Leo had moved at least $43 million from his nonprofits into CRC Advisors, a for-profit business which he chairs.[42] In August 2023, theAttorney General for the District of Columbia,Brian Schwalb, began investigating Leo and his network of nonprofit groups after receiving a letter from a progressive watchdog group claiming that Leo-aligned groups had violated nonprofit tax law.[43][44]
Leo's attorney,David Rivkin, said in October 2023 that Leo would not cooperate with the investigation because Schwalb had "no legal authority" as the Leo nonprofits are not registered in Washington, D.C.[45] Leo's network subsequently engaged in a pressure campaign targeting Schwalb. Twelve Republican attorneys general have challenged the legal basis of Schwalb's probe and Republican members of the U.S. House have announced a probe of Schwalb's investigation.[46][47]
Leo owns a house onMount Desert Island, Maine.[48][49] After he met with leaders of a New England fishermanstewardship association opposed tooffshore wind projects, theConcord Fund donated $573,000 to the group in both 2023 and 2024.[49]
In April 2024, theSenate Judiciary Committee issued asubpoena to Leo regarding undisclosed gifts to Supreme Court justices. Within a day, Leo publicly refused to cooperate with the subpoena, calling it "politically motivated" and arising from "dark money".[50]
In September 2024, in an interview with theFinancial Times, Leo said that the Marble Freedom Trust would devote $1 billion to "crush liberal dominance" in news and entertainment, and to fight "companies and financial institutions that bend to the woke mind virus". The trust is also supporting Republican efforts to retake the majority in the Senate.[51]
Leo was national co-chairman of Catholic outreach for theRepublican National Committee, and as the2004 Bush presidential campaign's Catholic strategist. He was appointed by PresidentGeorge W. Bush and theUnited States Senate to three terms on theUnited States Commission on International Religious Freedom.[52] He is a board member of theNational Catholic Prayer Breakfast.[53][54]
In 2012, Leo served on the boards of the Catholic Association and its affiliate Catholic Association Foundation, which ran campaigns opposing the legalization ofsame-sex marriage.[4] In 2016, Leo received $120,000 for his work for the Catholic Association.[4]
While Leo was the chairman of theUnited States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a Muslim policy analyst filed a complaint against the group with theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that she had been the victim ofanti-Muslim discrimination.[55] Leo denied the claims of discrimination against the organization, and no specific claims were made regarding Leo.[56] The EEOC complaint was dismissed.[56]
He has been a US delegate to the United Nations Council and theUN Commission on Human Rights, as well as theOrganization for Security and Cooperation in Europe andWorld Health Assembly. Leo has been an observer at theWorld Intellectual Property Organization and as a member of the US National Commission toUNESCO.[57][58]
Leo has been published inThe New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, andThe Huffington Post.[59][60][61] He received the 2009Bradley Prize.[62]
Leo has been on the board of directors of various organizations such asReclaim New York, a charity with ties to conservative activistsRebekah Mercer andSteve Bannon;Liberty Central, a charity founded byVirginia Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas; theCatholic Association and an affiliated charity, the Catholic Association Foundation; The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast; theBecket Law Fund;Students for Life; the Napa Legal Institute; the Youth Leadership Foundation; and the Board of Visitors at TheBusch School of Business atCatholic University.[4][57][63][64][65][58][66][67]
Leo is a member of theCouncil for National Policy, whose other members include Virginia Thomas, the wife of Clarence Thomas;Brent Bozell, founder of theMedia Research Center; andRalph Reed, chairman of the nonprofitFaith and Freedom Coalition.[68]
In filings with theFederal Election Commission, Leo listed theBH Group as his employer.[4] In 2018, the Judicial Crisis Network reported paying BH Group $1.2 million in fees.[69][4] In its first two years of existence, the BH Group received more than $4 million from the Judicial Crisis Network, its sister entity the Judicial Education Project and a third nonprofit, the Wellspring Committee.[4] Leo is also the president of the Freedom and Opportunity Fund, which, in 2022, distributed $250 million, including $153 million to the Rule of Law Trust, which is also affiliated with Leo.[4][29] Leo partially controlls America Engaged, a conservative group started in 2016.[1]
In 2016, after the death of US Supreme Court JusticeAntonin Scalia, Leo helped finance the renaming ofGeorge Mason University's Law School to theAntonin Scalia Law School.[70]
Leo is aRoman Catholic.[4] He has seven children with his wife, Sally.[4] Their daughter Margaret died in 2007 at the age of 14 fromspina bifida.[3] Leo has spoken about the profound impact her life had on him.[3][71][72]
Leo is a knight of theSovereign Military Order of Malta, a Catholic lay religious order.[73][74] In October 2022, Leo was awarded the John Paul II New Evangelization Award by the Catholic Information Center.[75][36] In May 2023, Leo received anhonorary doctorate fromBenedictine College.[76][36]
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