Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the Federalist Society, was a key player in guiding the Trump administration’s federal judicial nominations .
Records we obtained show Leo’s influence during Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. #FoiaFriday
americanoversight.org/document/doj-c…
Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in July 2018. In early September, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on his appointment; later that month, the committee reopened the hearings to discuss sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.
On Sept. 15, 2018, Senate Judiciary Chief Counsel Michael Davis emailed a “Nominations Strategy” email group and indicated he spoke to Leonard Leo. Davis wrote: “He is pushing [Kavanaugh] to call on us to reopen the hearing, so [Kavanaugh] can address allegations.”
Davis said that he thought that was a “recipe for disaster” and that he asked “Abegg” to call Leo to relay the same message. “Abegg” is possibly a reference to John Abegg, then Sen. Mitch McConnell’s chief legal counsel.
Ultimately, the Senate did reopen Kavanaugh’s nomination hearings to address Christine Blasey-Ford’s allegations of sexual assault.
These documents show the influence wielded by Leo and the behind-the-scenes efforts to preserve Kavanaugh’s nomination.
We’ve previously written about Leonard Leo’s influence pushing a conservative judicial agenda. Learn more here:
americanoversight.org/new-records-il…
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.