37 Facts About Leonard Leo

Leonard A Leo was born on 1965 and is an American lawyer and conservative legal activist.

Leonard Leo was the longtime vice president of the Federalist Society and is currently, along with Steven G Calabresi, the co-chairman of the organization's board of directors.

Leonard Leo assisted Clarence Thomas in his Supreme Court confirmation hearings and led campaigns to support the nominations of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Leonard Leo was born on Long Island, New York, in 1965, and raised in suburban New Jersey to a family of practicing Catholics.

Leonard Leo's grandfather, an Italian immigrant, was a vice president of Brooks Brothers.

Leonard Leo attended Cornell University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1986, and working as an intern in the office of Senator Orrin Hatch.

Leonard Leo delayed his start at the Federalist Society to assist Thomas in his Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

Leonard Leo served at the Federalist Society in various capacities for more than 25 years.

Leonard Leo took leaves of absence from the Federalist Society to organize efforts in support of the confirmations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court.

Leonard Leo helped to push the Bush administration's nomination of Miguel Estrada to the judiciary.

In 2011 and 2012, Leonard Leo arranged for Liberty Consulting, owned by Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to be paid $80,000 by The Polling Company, owned by Kellyanne Conway, and billed through the Judicial Education Project, which filed a brief to the court in a landmark voting rights case the same year.

Leonard Leo directed Conway to not mention Ginni Thomas in paperwork.

In 2016, after the death of US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Leonard Leo raised funds to rename George Mason University's Law School the Antonin Scalia Law School.

Leonard Leo worked with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to block President Barack Obama's replacement appointee, Merrick Garland and first contacted Gorsuch about the possibility of President Donald Trump appointing Gorsuch to the seat vacated by Scalia's death.

Leonard Leo was heavily involved in the campaign to prevent Merrick Garland from filling the Supreme Court seat previously occupied by Antonin Scalia; the Judicial Crisis Network, linked to Leonard Leo, reported that it spent more than $7 million to prevent Garland's confirmation.

Leonard Leo was connected to two dozen conservative nonprofit entities that raised over $250 million between 2014 and 2017.

In January 2020, Leonard Leo announced that he would be leaving his position as vice president at the Federalist Society to start a new group, CRC Advisors.

Leonard Leo remained in his role as co-chairman of the Federalist Society's board of directors.

In October 2018, Leonard Leo appeared on an episode of Firing Line.

Leonard Leo was national co-chairman of Catholic outreach for the Republican National Committee, and as the 2004 Bush presidential campaign's Catholic strategist.

Leonard Leo was appointed by President George W Bush and the United States Senate to three terms on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Leonard Leo is a board member of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.

In 2012, Leonard Leo was on the boards of the Catholic Association and its affiliate Catholic Association Foundation.

In 2016, Leonard Leo received $120,000 for his work for the Catholic Association.

Leonard Leo denied the claims of discrimination against the organization, and no specific claims were made regarding Leonard Leo.

Leonard Leo has been a US delegate to the United Nations Council and UN Commission on Human Rights as well as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and World Health Assembly.

Leonard Leo has been an observer at the World Intellectual Property Organization and as a member of the US National Commission to UNESCO.

Leonard Leo has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post.

Leonard Leo is a member of the Council for National Policy, whose other members include, among others, Virginia Thomas, the wife of Clarence Thomas; Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center; and Ralph Reed, chairman of the nonprofit Faith and Freedom Coalition.

In filings with the Federal Election Commission, Leonard Leo listed the BH Group as his employer.

Leonard Leo is the president of the Freedom and Opportunity Fund.

Leonard Leo is the sole trustee of, and only individual associated with, the Rule of Law Trust.

Leonard Leo is the trustee and chairman of the Marble Freedom Trust, founded in 2020.

Leonard Leo has primary authority to decide how the trust's money is spent.

Leonard Leo has spoken about the profound impact her life had on him.

Leonard Leo is a knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a Catholic lay religious order.

Leonard Leo has a summer home in Northeast Harbor, Maine, where he has been the target of periodic protests due to his advocacy for anti-abortion Supreme Court justices.