The largely unknown man behind the U.S. judiciary’s shift to the right
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2023
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Leonard Leo has been described as a puppet master – pulling strings between rich and powerful conservatives to turn the American judiciary to the right. Who is Leonard Leo and how has he been so effective?
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Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, On Point is WBUR’s award-winning, daily public radio show and podcast. Its unique combination of original reporting, first-person stories, and in-depth analysis creates an experience that makes the world more intelligible and humane. Deep dives. Original stories. Fresh takes.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Support for this podcast comes from Sincere Foundation, which supports organizations that provide food security, housing stability, and safe spaces, |
| 0:09.0 | and envisions a future where everyone has the opportunity to celebrate life milestones. |
| 0:14.2 | Learn more at sincere.com. |
| 0:17.0 | Leonard Leo just may be the most important political operative that most |
| 0:28.9 | people have never heard of but conservative |
| 0:33.0 | and they count on his help in building a conservative legal movement |
| 0:37.0 | to further their political goals. |
| 0:40.0 | Last May, Leonard Leo was commencement speaker at Benedictine College, a small Catholic |
| 0:45.0 | college in Kansas, and when the college's president, Stephen Minus, introduced him, |
| 0:50.4 | he praised Leo's behind-the-'s role in shepherding conservative justices |
| 0:55.4 | onto the US Supreme Court. |
| 0:57.4 | It is those justices Thomas Alito, Gorsich, Kavanaugh, Barrett, who he helped to get into place that were able |
| 1:06.6 | last year to accomplish with the ProLife Movement had been working and praying for nearly 50 |
| 1:11.2 | years to finally unequivocally overturn Roe versus Wade. |
| 1:16.0 | Flying under the radar for years and working with the Federalist Society Leo became a prolific fundraiser, attaining a formidable record of filling |
| 1:26.1 | state and federal courts with conservative judges. |
| 1:30.1 | When GOP political operative Steve Schmidt first met Leo, |
| 1:33.4 | he thought he was just a member of the group of stakeholders |
| 1:36.0 | helping the Bush administration confirm |
| 1:38.3 | justices Alito and Roberts. |
| 1:40.4 | But pretty soon, Schmidt figured out, quote quote Leo is the guy the person who makes things happen if you take it down to like a school |
| 1:49.3 | Committee like the PTA Committee who's going to be the chairperson of the committee? |
... |
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