Jun 29, 2025
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Maybe it’s unwise to pick a fight with the folks who control the Supreme Court?
Ian Millhiser at Vox:
On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump publicly split with the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative lawyers’ group that he relied on to select judges in his first term. Thanks in no small part to Trump, a majority of the Supreme Court justices are associated with the Federalist Society, as are dozens or even hundreds of other federal judges. But now, Trump apparently regrets his earlier partnership with the Society. “I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations,” Trump posted on Truth Social. He blames his decision to ally with the Society on the fact that he was “new to Washington” when he first became president, “and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges.” He also names Leonard Leo, the co-chair of the Society’s board, a “sleazebag” who “probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions.”
It’s a bold move by Trump, because the Federalist Society derives much of its power from the fact that so many of its members have lifetime appointments to the federal bench. Promising conservative lawyers want to join — and pay dues — to the Society because it was seen as a pipeline to power. And the fact that its members have been able to shape policy on everything from abortion to race to student loans made it the premier right-wing legal group. That’s not to say Trump will destroy the Society’s grip on the judiciary. In fact, he may have inadvertently strengthened it. Older Federalist Society judges and justices may be less likely to retire under Trump now that they know that he’s unlikely to rely on the Society to choose their replacement. And sitting Federalist Society judges and justices may view the Trump administration’s legal arguments with greater skepticism. Trump’s breakup with the Federalist Society isn’t particularly surprising. At a recent Federalist Society conference on executive power, many of the speakers denounced Trump’s incompetence and warned that it would prevent conservatives from achieving lasting policy victories during this administration. Some argued that Trump’s signature economic policy, his tariffs, are illegal. And Trump is right that Leo, and by extension, the Federalist Society and its judges, have “separate ambitions” that do not always align with Trump or the MAGA movement. While the Federalist Society certainly has plenty of members who are staunch MAGA loyalists, many of its judges still adhere to the more libertarian and less explicitly authoritarian approach that dominated the Republican Party before Trump took it over. Speakers at the recent Federalist Society conference spoke openly about plans to diminish Trump’s power and shift authority toward the judiciary. Nor did the Federalist Society’s judges rally behind Trump’s failed attempt to overturn former President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Some of them even actively pushed back – Trump-appointed Judge Stephanos Bibas’s opinion rejecting one of Trump’s attempts to overturn that election begins with the line “free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,” and rejects Trump’s claims due to a lack of “specific allegations and then proof.” In his Thursday night post announcing that he and Leo are never getting back together, Trump pointed to a recent decision by the US Court of International Trade, which struck down an array of Trump’s second-term tariffs, as a triggering event. Notably, one of these three judges, Timothy Rief, is a Trump appointee.
Trump is likely to pay a big price for breaking with one of America’s most powerful institutions
The Federalist Society is America’s most powerful legal organization in large part because it has such a comprehensive network of right-leaning and right-wing lawyers. Top law students often join the Federalist Society because the Society can help place them in clerkships with some of the most prestigious judges. The Society’s events give young lawyers a chance to network with senior members of their profession who can connect them with other hard-to-obtain job opportunities. And, because senior lawyers often have a decades-long relationship with the Society, the Society can easily vet them for ideological loyalty if they seek a political appointment such as a federal judgeship.
This network also means that the Federalist Society has historically provided a valuable service to Republican presidents. If a federal judicial vacancy arises in, say, Idaho, the president and his top advisers are unlikely to know which members of the Idaho bar are both highly skilled and ideologically committed to the GOP’s goals. But the Federalist Society has both a student and a lawyers’ chapter in Idaho. So it can identify highly qualified right-wing candidates for the bench and pass that information on to the White House. Without access to this network, Trump is likely to struggle to identify nominees as quickly as he did in his first term, and there are already signs that he’s relying on alternative networks to find his second term judges — a shift that may diminish the Society’s influence in the long run, because lawyers hoping for a political appointment will no longer gain an advantage by joining it. When Trump announced his first slate of second-term nominees in early May, for example, half of them were lawyers in GOP-controlled state attorney general’s offices. These offices might provide Trump with a stream of loyal nominees in red states, but it is unclear how he will identify judicial candidates in blue states where elected officials are unlikely to fill their offices with lawyers sympathetic to the MAGA movement.
Donald Trump threw the Federalist Society and its chair Leonard Leo under the bus, since the organization represents a pre-Trump era GOP ethos. Leo and Trump helped move the Supreme Court to the right.
The President has blamed the Federalist Society for “bad advice” on judicial nominations, after a court ruled against his authority to impos
“A real ‘sleazebag’” and “bad person.” Someone who “probably hates America.” The latest target of Donald Trump’s insults, however, is the very same whom he once credited with what he would later call “one of the greatest achievements” of his presidency.
“We’re going to have great judges, conservative, all picked by the Federalist Society,” Trump promised during his first campaign in 2016. It was the result of a meeting in March 2016 with Leonard Leo, then the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, a conservative organization that advocates for legal originalism.
True to his promise, Trump would go on to consult Leo for judicial nominations, including his three Supreme Court picks.
Read More: Inside Trump’s Plan to Dramatically Reshape U.S. Courts [From 2018]
“What we’re doing with the courts, I think, is going to go down as one of the greatest achievements,” Trump said during his first term.
But on Thursday, Trump had changed his tune.
“I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges,” he posted on his social media platform Truth Social. “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.”
Somebody call the cops
Senator Whitehouse Delights in Messy Trump/Musk Breakup and Right-Wing Billionaires exposed...
The breakup of the two billionaire narcissists was on my bingo card, but Trump turning on Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society was not!
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday walked back a planned vote to subpoena two megadonors connected to Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The reason? Republicans threw a fit.
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee finally took the first step last week to address the high court’s ethics crisis and announced they would seek to subpoena Republican billionaire megadonor Harlan Crow and ultraconservative activist Leonard Leo. Both men feature prominently in the ethics scandal for their relationships with Thomas and Alito. The committee said it would also seek to subpoena wealthy GOP donor Robin Arkley II.
But Chair Dick Durbin appeared to put that all on hold on Thursday, when he abruptly ended a committee meeting after outraged Republicans threatened to retaliate if Crow and Leo were subpoenaed.
(continue reading)
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