Trump lashes out at Leonard Leo, authorized activist who helped him choose Supreme Court docket justices:
President Trump attacked the highly effective conservative authorized activist Leonard Leo late Thursday, calling the previous Federalist Society chief who as soon as suggested the president on Supreme Court docket picks a “unhealthy individual” who “most likely hates America.”
Mr. Trump lashed out at Leo a day after a panel of judges — together with a Trump appointee — known as most of his tariffs unlawful. The ruling, which was paused by an appellate court docket, put Mr. Trump at odds with some conservative legal professionals: Two of the three judges who determined the case have been appointed by Republicans, and the choice got here in response to a lawsuit that cited right-leaning authorized theories.
The president attacked the three judges behind that ruling in a Fact Social put up late Thursday, calling it a “horrible, Nation threatening determination” and suggesting it was made as a result of the judges hate him. He then turned his consideration to Leo and the Federalist Society, two longstanding pillars of the conservative authorized motion broadly credited with serving to Mr. Trump choose a whole lot of federal judges — a few of whom have dominated towards his administration.
“I used to be new to Washington, and it was instructed that I exploit The Federalist Society as a recommending supply on Judges,” Mr. Trump wrote on Fact Social late Thursday. “I did so, brazenly and freely, however then realized that they have been beneath the thumb of an actual “sleazebag” named Leonard Leo, a nasty one that, in his personal manner, most likely hates America, and clearly has his personal separate ambitions.”
In a press release to Politico, Leo mentioned: “I am very grateful for President Trump remodeling the Federal Courts, and it was a privilege being concerned,” Leo mentioned. “There’s extra work to be executed, for certain, however the Federal Judiciary is best than it is ever been in trendy historical past, and that can be President Trump’s most vital legacy.”
CBS Information has reached out to Leo and the Federalist Society for remark.
Mr. Trump’s assaults on Leo and the Federalist Society are hanging due to their years-long alliance with the president. Throughout his 2016 marketing campaign, Mr. Trump promised to hearken to the right-leaning authorized group when making judicial picks, saying in an interview: “We will have nice judges, conservative, all picked by the Federalist Society.”
Throughout Mr. Trump’s first time period, Leo suggested the president on his Supreme Court docket picks, who type a key a part of the excessive court docket’s 6-3 conservative majority. Together with different legal professionals, Leo helped Mr. Trump assemble lists of potential Supreme Court docket justices — which the president then used to pick out his three nominees to the court docket.
Leo spoke with Mr. Trump shortly after Justice Anthony Kennedy introduced his retirement in 2018, opening up a emptiness on the court docket that was crammed by Brett Kavanaugh, Leo informed CBS Information on the time. When requested about how Mr. Trump’s shortlist of attainable nominees was put collectively, Leo mentioned the president had “known as and requested to fulfill and instructed the thought of doing an inventory.”
Mr. Trump spoke positively about Leo in his first time period. “We had an inventory that you simply labored on very arduous, and others,” the president mentioned in a 2019 occasion.
However on Thursday, Mr. Trump mentioned he is “disillusioned in The Federalist Society due to the unhealthy recommendation they gave me on quite a few Judicial Nominations.”
Mr. Trump additionally famous Leo has “left The Federalist Society to do his personal ‘factor,'” presumably referring to Leo’s work with the Teneo Community, a bunch meant to — in Leo’s phrases — “crush liberal dominance” in fields apart from legislation, from leisure to finance.
The president has clashed with judges repeatedly in latest months, as elements of his agenda — together with tariffs and immigration coverage — face pushback from the federal judiciary.
Specifically, tariffs may pit one in every of Mr. Trump’s signature financial insurance policies towards among the authorized theories championed by the conservative judicial motion. Lawsuits arguing Mr. Trump does not have the ability to levy sweeping international tariffs have cited the nondelegation doctrine and the most important questions doctrine, two authorized ideas that right-leaning members of the Supreme Court docket — together with ones chosen by Mr. Trump — have embraced for years.
