Opus Dei and the reshaping of the U.S. Supreme Court

The M+G+R Foundation

Opus Dei and the reshaping of the U.S. Supreme Court

The key role of Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society

CONTENTS

• Background

• Who is Leonard Leo and what is the Federalist Society?

• Leonard Leo’s personal ties with Opus Dei

• The Federalist Society – A ‘pipeline’ to produce influencing lawyers

• Antonin Scalia, original faculty advisor to The Federalist Society

• The special faculties of Leonard Leo

• The success in the reshaping of the Supreme Court

• Opus Dei and financial support

• Epilogue

• References

BACKGROUND

In 2010, we called attention to the serious anomaly in the U.S. Supreme Court, where five of the nine justices were Catholic, in a nation with a large Protestant majority.

Now, in 2024, there are six Catholics on the Supreme Court (and a seventh between Catholic and Episcopalian), and we have much more details explaining this anomaly that everyone now recognizes is no accident. The very architects of the Supreme Court’s shift to the Catholic right openly celebrate this as a success of a long-standing plan.

NOTE: For those of our international readers who are unfamiliar with the U.S. judiciary, we have prepared a summary in an attached document explaining what the U.S. Supreme Court is and some basic information, including a list of the justices who now sit on it and brief notes on their religious affiliation.

SUMMARY

Who is Leonard Leo and what is the Federalist Society? (1)

Leonard Leo is the Opus Dei cooperator (2) who most influenced the installation of five Supreme Court Justices.

The Federalist Society is the main front organization through which the efforts of Leonard Leo and his allies to reshape the judiciary have been channeled.

DETAILS

Leonard Leo’s personal ties with Opus Dei

Leonard Leo is a member of Opus Dei, according to Bill Donohue’s Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. (2023cale)

Leo is a very close and long time cooperator (2) of Opus Dei, having propelled a huge financial help to them. (2024rost) He has been in the board of directors of Opus Dei’s Catholic Information Center, in Washington D.C. (2018arci) In 2022, the Opus Dei’s Catholic Information Center (CIC) awarded him with the “John Paul II New Evangelization Award”. (2022cic)

“Leo’s children went to two Opus Dei schools —The Heights for the boys and Oakcrest for the girls— and he and his wife played an active part in school life, donating thousands of dollars a year in addition to the many thousands they were paying in tuition for their various children.” (2024rost) Opus Dei’s Heights and Oakcrest schools charged up to $30,000 tuition annually per student, with Leo and his wife having six children. (2024rost)

“A religious portrait of his deceased daughter is displayed in their [Opus Dei’s] Washington, D.C., Catholic Information Center.” (2024rene)

When asked about Leo’s sincerity in his faith, Tom Carter, who was communications director at USCIRF (3) from 2009-2012 (when Leo was the de facto chief) told a journalist: “He believes he’s on a mission from God.” (2021chst)

The Federalist Society – A ‘pipeline’ to produce influencing lawyers

Leonard Leo has been the long time executive vice president and is now (Oct. 2024) co-chairman of the Federalist Society. (2024feso1)

In Leo’s own words:

“The key was to figure out how to develop what I call a ‘pipeline’ – basically, where you recruit students in law school, you get them through law school, they come out of law school, and then you find ways of continuing to involve them in legal policy.” (2024rost)

Which proves the description by a Washington Post columnist to be accurate:

“The Federalist Society is a one-stop shopping network for identifying, helping promote, credentialing, and supporting conservative lawyers. And in the end, turning them into conservative judicial nominees, and then conservative judges.” (2022npr)

“The Federalist Society was founded in 1982, (2024feso2) as a student organization, by [three (2024rost)] students at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, and the University of Chicago Law School. In the group’s first activity, a symposium, Antonin Scalia participated as a speaker.

• “By 1983, the society had chapters in over a dozen law schools. The group continued to function primarily as an organization for law students until the early 1990s, when conservative activist Leonard Leo helped transform the organization into the powerful judicial group that it is today.” (2024moin)

• Currently (Oct. 2024), the Federalist Society has 70,000 members, with 200 student chapters at law schools across the United States as well as lawyers chapters in 90 U.S. cities.” (2024wifs) ...and includes a vast network of connected judges and politicians. (2024moin)

• “Federalist Society members, «bound together and shaped by a set of beliefs about law, the nature of government, and constitutional interpretation», are brought together at conferences, symposiums, and debates, where they are able to share ideas and build relationships with generally like-minded people.“” (2024moin)

Six Supreme Court justices are (or have been) members of the Federalist Society:

• Antonin Scalia,
• Samuel Alito,
• Clarence Thomas,
• Neil Gorsuch,
• Brett Kavanaugh and
• Amy Coney Barrett.

Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts, “has repeatedly said that he has no memory of belonging to the Federalist Society, but his name appears in ... [their] 1997-1998 leadership directory ... as a member of the steering committee of the organization’s Washington chapter”. “Roberts has acknowledged taking part in some Federalist Society activities.” (2005wapo)

According to Wikipedia, Antonin Scalia “served as the original faculty advisor to the organization.” (2024wifs) Another source says he was the advisor in Chicago: “Yale professors Robert H. Bork and Ralph K. Winter ... served as advisers to the Yale chapter. In Chicago, future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia served in a similar capacity.” (1999rati)

Antonin Scalia, original faculty advisor to The Federalist Society

Antonin Scalia was a Supreme Court justice from 1986 to 2016. He passed away on February 2016.

He was the perfect example that it is not necessary to be an Opus Dei member to establish a solid and very close association to Opus Dei.

As long as there is a fruitful friendship, they may prefer for a public figure not be a member. Escrivá (Opus Dei’s creator) outlined the cooperation by non-members when he formally defined the figure of a “cooperator” but, clearly, there is no need for that “title” to be formally bestowed for someone to become a de facto cooperator, even if that someone sees the relationship just as a “friendship”.

Parish and family associations with Opus Dei:

• Scalia’s son Paul has been reported to be a priest in the Order of the Holy Cross, Opus Dei’s priestly order. (2007taac)

• Scalia attended a Church, St. Catherine of Siena in Falls, Virginia, that “has a strong Opus Dei presence, complete with Sunday morning Latin Mass. It is the Washington, D.C. parish for many Opus Dei members and cooperators, such as former Senator Rick Santorum.” (2007taac) ...and Louis Freeh, former FBI Director. (2010newe)

• [Presumably, in the same parish] “While he is not a member of Opus Dei, his wife Maureen has attended Opus Dei’s «spiritual functions», says an Opus Dei member.” (2010newe)

• “His children and grandchildren attended Opus Dei schools.” (2024rost)

Other associations with Opus Dei:

• “The Justice Antonin Scalia had given talks at the [Opus Dei’s] Catholic Information Center in Washington D.C.” (2024rost)

• “Scalia had also attended an Opus Dei retreat at the prelature’s $10 million, 844-acre property near the Shenandoah Mountains. ” (2024rost)

• “He was best friends with Father Malcolm Kennedy, an Opus Dei priest who often came around for dinner at Scalia’s house” (2024rost)

• “Leonard Leo and [Opus Dei’s activist] Neil Corkery conceived the Judicial Crisis Network at a dinner party attended by conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.” (2024moin2)

Scalia’s association with the Federalist Society:

• “He served as the original faculty advisor to the organization.” (2024wifs) – One of three original advisors, according to other source. (1999rati)

• “In the group’s first activity, a symposium, he participated as a speaker.” (2024wifs)

• Scalia hired two of the Federalist Society’s founders as his law clerks: Steven G. Calabresi and Lee Liberman Otis. (1999rati)

Ties with other Supreme Court justices:

• “Scalia’s son, Father Paul Scalia, helped convert Clarence Thomas to Catholicism four years ago [~2006].” (2010newe)

• Amy Coney Barrett, “a devout Catholic”, (2020thna) clerked for Scalia in 1998 and 1999. (2020cnn) Amy Coney Barrett was “a protégé of Antonin Scalia” (2024rost)

John Allen, author of a friendly book on Opus Dei, was told that Scalia is not a member, despite rumors to the contrary. (2005joal) McCloskey, an infamous Opus Dei priest, also dismissed the rumor that Scalia would be a secret member. (2010newe)

The special faculties of Leonard Leo

According to the Washington Post and National Public Radio (NPR):

“Leo is widely known as the executive vice president of the Federalist Society. But behind the scenes, he is the maestro of a network of interlocking nonprofits and other initiatives to sway lawmakers by generating public support for conservative judges.” (2021chst) (quote from 2019)

“In recent years, confirmation proceedings [for the Supreme Court] have begun to resemble expensive political campaigns, often funded by a complex network of anonymous donors. And ... Leo had «a singular knack for coaxing huge checks, some as large as eight figures, out of billionaire donors.»” (2022npr)

The success in the reshaping of the Supreme Court

“In total, the Federalist Society has had ties to seven Supreme Court justices who were confirmed to the court: Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society played significant roles in the judicial selection processes for all six of the sitting conservative justices.” (2024moin)

Clarence Thomas (Catholic)

Around 1991, Leonard Leo “was asked by the Federalist Society to become its first employee, although he delayed the start date so that he could help his good friend Clarence Thomas through his contentious confirmation process for the Supreme Court. Despite accusations of sexual harassment hanging over him, Thomas won Senate confirmation by a slim margin.” (2024rost)

John Roberts (Catholic)

“In 2005, the Federalist Society began openly advocating for John Roberts to be nominated to fill a vacant seat at the Supreme Court.” (2024rost) They succeeded. John Roberts was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2005.

Samuel Alito (Catholic)

A few months later, “the Federalist Society’s sway had grown so much that it torpedoed President George W. Bush’s own preferred candidate for another vacant seat on the Supreme Court —Harriet Miers, a judge and close friend of the president who wasn’t a member of the Federalist Society— and pressured him to nominate Samuel Alito, one of its members, in her place.” (2024rost) They succeeded. Samuel Alito was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2006.

Brett Kavanaugh (Catholic)

“After Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the Supreme Court over the summer, Trump called Leo several times a day to ask questions and compare notes. And when Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace Kennedy, Leo took a sabbatical from his day job to advise the White House and coordinate outside efforts on behalf of the nominee.” (2018poli) Leo “was present at the White House ceremony when Trump announced Kavanaugh’s nomination.” (2022romo)

Amy Barrett (Catholic)

Leonard Leo is “the man who put Amy Barrett on President Trump’s list for the Supreme Court.” (2019trou) The Federalist Society “played a key role in her 2020 nomination ” and “Justice Barrett got a standing ovation at [the] Federalist Society gala” after her nomination. (2023wapo) “Politico [digital newspaper] claimed that Barrett was “groomed” as a potential Supreme Court justice by Federalist Society members when she was studying law at Notre Dame.” (2024moin)

In summary, as reported by The Federalist Society:

“In addition to his work at the Society, Leonard has advised President Trump on judicial selection, assisted with the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh Supreme Court selection and confirmation process, and served as a member of the transition team. He also organized the outside coalition efforts in support of the Roberts and Alito U.S. Supreme Court confirmations.” (2024feso1)

Also proudly displayed by the Opus Dei’s Catholic Information Center (CIC) in Washington D.C.:

“Leonard has assisted two presidential administrations on judicial selection as an outside advisor, and participated in the Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett Supreme Court selection and confirmation process as well as the outside coalition efforts in support of the Roberts and Alito U.S. Supreme Court confirmations.” (2024cic)

Some selected mentions in the Press:

• [In 2018, before the nomination of Amy Barrett in 2020] “Leonard Leo can take credit for installing four Supreme Court justices” (2018chst) – John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

• “As executive vice president of the Federalist Society, Leo has been the quiet architect of a pivotal shift to the right throughout the federal judiciary” including “dozens of lower court federal judges across the country.” It was Leo who prepared Trump’s “list of judges and the people that he’s put on the bench.” (2018npr)

• “A Washington Post analysis found Leo and his allies raised $250 million between 2014 and 2017 from undisclosed donors. And a chunk of that money has gone directly to campaigns to drum up support for judicial confirmations.” (2022npr)

• “As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump promised that his nominees would «all [be] picked by the Federalist Society». Yet, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation, the list of Supreme Court nominees that Trump drew from in creating a conservative supermajority was devised by Leo alone.” (2023poli)

Opus Dei and financial support

According to the Rolling Stone Magazine: (2024rost)

• Around 2005. “As Leo’s access to the world of dark money grew, his Opus Dei friends the Corkerys [Neil and Ann Corkery] became critical as a front for the tens of millions of dollars streaming through Leo’s hidden network of nonprofits. Neil and Ann had provided crucial cover for Leonard Leo during the campaign to secure the confirmations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito in 2005, hiding the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to influence public opinion.”

• Around 2010. “As more dark money poured in starting in 2010, they began to do the same again through various nonprofits such as the Wellspring Committee and the Judicial Crisis Network.”

• Around 2016. “In the weeks after Scalia’s death [in 2016], the Corkerys began opening the purse strings in what would eventually become a $17 million campaign to stop Obama from replacing Scalia and instead ensure a reliable conservative filled the vacancy. It was just the start.”

• “Over the next five years, [after 2016] Leo and the Corkerys would oversee the transfer of almost $600 million of dark money to right-wing causes.”

According to National Public Radio (NPR):

• “A Washington Post analysis found Leo and his allies raised $250 million between 2014 and 2017 from undisclosed donors. And a chunk of that money has gone directly to campaigns to drum up support for judicial confirmations — campaigns that include commercials.” (2022npr)

And, finally:

• “They also used the network to line their own pockets. Over the next few years, their personal wealth would skyrocket as they skimmed off tens of millions of dollars in advisory fees.” (2024rost)

• “These pools of dark money were also used to boost various initiatives directly or indirectly that were associated with Opus Dei: the Catholic Association, the Catholic Association Foundation, Catholic Voices USA, and the Catholic Information Center on K Street, where Leo now sat on the board, all became beneficiaries of this largesse.” (2024rost)

Epilogue

Not surprisingly, in 2022, the Opus Dei’s Catholic Information Center (CIC), in Washington D.C., awarded Leonard Leo with the “John Paul II New Evangelization Award”. (2022cic)

And there is a symbolic Opus Dei’s award for Leo that goes beyond that: they allowed a portrait of Leo’s deceased daughter to be displayed in said center (2024rene) “in the foyer, even more prominent than the photographs of [so-called] Saint Josemaría, which were tucked away in a passageway off the main communal area.” (2024rost)

As the journalist commented, “The portrait symbolized a growing symbiosis between Opus Dei and Leo.” (2024rost)

Thus, Opus Dei’s “J.P. II New Evangelization Award” went to a man whose “evangelized” life included:

“As the money rolled in, Leo began to enjoy some of the same luxuries as the billionaires he had spent years courting. ... in the years since 2016, he had spent millions of dollars on two new mansions in Maine, bought four new cars, and hired a wine buyer and locker at Morton’s, an upscale steakhouse three blocks from the Catholic Information Center. It was only a foretaste of what was to come.” (2024rost)

As they say,

“Recipients of the award demonstrate an exemplary commitment to proclaiming Christ to the world.” (2022cic)

Clearly, the political, financial and material ways followed by Leonard Leo —in common terms, the following of the money and the worldly power under the tenet that “the end justifies the means”— are seen, in the eyes of Opus Dei, as the most excellent and exemplary way for “Evangelization”. The Way?

We know that true followers of Jesus like St. Peter or St. Paul did not plan to take positions at Caesar’s court as part of the Evangelization. Neither they attempted to amass fortunes for the Evangelization to succeed. Is there a different Gospel now?

As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. [Galatians 1:9]

REFERENCES

(1999rati) Federalist Society: Hijacking Justice, 10/99
https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/hijakjustice.html

(2005joal) John L. Allen, Jr., Opus Dei, Doubleday, 2005, p. 145

(2005wapo) Roberts Listed in Federalist Society ’97-98 Directoryhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/07/25/roberts-listed-in-federalist-society-97-98-directory/07462c8a-f148-4b4f-97f5-b44cfc3c1333/

(2007taac) An Opus Focus on SCOTUS? (Part 1)
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/4/29/15140/0729/Front_Page/An_Opus_Focus_on_SCOTUS_Part_1_

(2010newe) Washington’s Quiet Club
https://www.newsweek.com/washingtons-quiet-club-149005

(2018arci) CIC Staff and Board of Directors
https://web.archive.org/web/20181014115430/http://www.cicdc.org/about/staff-and-board-of-directors/

(2018chst) Opus Dei’s Influence on the U.S. Judiciary
https://churchandstate.org.uk/2019/03/opus-deis-influence-on-the-u-s-judiciary/

(2018npr) What is the Federalist Society and how does it affect Supreme Court picks?
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/28/624416666/what-is-the-federalist-society-and-how-does-it-affect-supreme-court-picks

(2018poli) Leonard Leo – Executive vice president, Federalist Society – Trump’s court architect
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2018/politico50/leonard-leo/

(2019trou) Dark money for Supreme Court briefs tied to former Federalist Society leader
https://truthout.org/articles/dark-money-for-supreme-court-briefs-former-federalist-soceity/

(2020cnn) Antonin Scalia’s legacy looms over the Amy Coney Barrett hearings
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/12/politics/scalia-barrett-supreme-court-hearing/index.html

(2020thna) Amy Coney Barrett’s Extremist Religious Beliefs Merit Examination
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/amy-coney-barrett-religious/

(2021chst) Leonard Leo, Opus Dei and the Radical Catholic Takeover of the Supreme Court
https://churchandstate.org.uk/2022/05/leonard-leo-opus-dei-and-the-radical-catholic-takeover-of-the-supreme-court/

(2022cic) 2022 John Paul II New Evangelization Awardee
https://cicdc.org/2022-john-paul-ii-new-evangelization-awardee/

(2022npr) One man’s outsized role in shaping the Supreme Court and overturning Roe
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1108351562/roe-abortion-supreme-court-scotus-law

(2022romo) Pulling back the curtain: Opus Dei
https://www.robinmorgan.net/pulling-back-the-curtain-opus-dei/

(2023cale) Anti-Catholic bigots attack Leonard Leo – An article by Bill Donohue
https://www.catholicleague.org/anti-catholic-bigots-attack-leonard-leo/
Visited on October 15, 2024. This document-reference is archived in our domain, in case that the original fails or is modified.

(2023poli) Leonard Leo used Federalist Society contact to obtain $1.6B donation
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/02/leonard-leo-federalist-society-00094761

(2023wapo) Justice Barrett gets standing ovation at Federalist Society gala
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/09/justice-barrett-at-federalist-society-gala/

(2024cic) CIC speakers: Leonard Leo
https://cicdc.org/speakers/leonard-leo/

(2024feso1) The Federalist Society: Contributors: Leonard A. Leo
https://fedsoc.org/contributors/leonard-leo

(2024feso2) The Federalist Society: About Us: Our Background
https://fedsoc.org/about-us#Background

(2024moin) The Federalist Society | Monitoring Influence
https://www.monitoringinfluence.org/org/federalist-society/

(2024moin2) The 85 Fund | Monitoring Influence
https://www.monitoringinfluence.org/org/the-85-fund/

(2024rene) A new book chronicles the behind-the-scenes Christian nationalism of Opus Dei
https://religionnews.com/2024/10/07/a-new-book-chronicles-the-behind-the-scenes-christian-nationalism-of-opus-dei/

(2024rost) Opus Dei and the Moneybags Kid
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/opus-dei-leonard-leo-supreme-court-moneybags-kid-1235115538/

(2024wifs) Wikipedia: The Federalist Society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society

NOTES

(1) This is our informed opinion, but we think that there is enough information (including links) in this document for the reader to check these conclusions for himself/herself.

(2) We mean “cooperator” as it is understood in common English. The Opus Dei organization has its own technical and official definition of “cooperator”, but we are not referring to that.

(3) USCIRF: United States Commission on International Religious Freedom