Paging Pope Francis: Leonard LEO, Knights of Malta, Federalist Society - bane of our SCotUS

[UTUSN]

Last edited Wed Jul 11, 2018, 11:23 AM - Edit history (2)

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-secrets-of-leonard-leo-the-man-behind-trumps-supreme-court-pick

The Secrets of Leonard Leo, the Man Behind Trump’s Supreme Court Pick

A Catholic fundamentalist who controls a network of right-wing groups funded by dark money has put three justices on the court. He’s about to get a fourth.

.... At the center of the network is Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, the association of legal professionals that has been the pipeline for nearly all of Trump’s judicial nominees. (Leo is on leave from the Federalist Society to personally assist Trump in picking a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy.) His formal title is executive vice president, but that role belies Leo’s influence.

Directly or through surrogates, he has placed dozens of life-tenure judges on the federal bench; effectively controls the Judicial Crisis Network, which led the opposition to President Obama’s high court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland; he heavily influences the Becket Fund law firm that represented Hobby Lobby in its successful challenge of contraception; and now supervises admissions and hires at the George Mason Law School, newly renamed in memory of Justice Antonin Scalia. ....

Leo is a member of the secretive, extremely conservative Knights of Malta, a Catholic order founded in the 12th century that functions as a quasi-independent sovereign nation with its own diplomatic corps (separate from the Vatican), United Nations status, and a tremendous amount of money and land. ....

Leo’s religious beliefs have also occasionally manifested as bias against other faiths. When he was chairman of U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (he was appointed by President Bush in 2007), Leo fended off a discrimination lawsuit brought by a Muslim former employee who says she was fired because of her faith. Several USCIRF employees resigned over the controversy and Leo was fired not long thereafter. ....

Leo is most closely associated with the Federalist Society, which he joined in the 1990s. Sometimes thought of as a legal association, the Federalist Society is actually a large right-wing network that grooms conservative law students still in law school (sponsoring everything from free burrito lunches to conferences, speakers, and journals), links them together, mentors them, finds them jobs, and eventually places them in courts and in government. It’s like a large-scale fraternity, knitted together by ideological conformity. (The Federalist Society did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.)

The Federalist Society network is now estimated to include over 70,000 people. In 2016, they reported $25 million in net assets. ....

Indeed, while the Trump list was initially credited to John Malcolm at the Heritage Foundation, Carter said that this was just another tactic of obfuscation: “a way of saying it’s Heritage’s list and not Federalist Society’s list.” ....

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[Sinistrous]

1. kick.

[dalton99a]

2. Francis, excommunicate this Trump-loving trash from your church.

There is nothing Catholic or Christian about this fascist authoritarian gang of GOP functionaries whose only purpose in life is to protect the filthy rich and oppress the weak and powerless

[UTUSN]

3. Cashing in a valued Rec for a suppertime Kick!1