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Jennifer Bendery @jbendery
, 10 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
Good morning. Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society has helped to pick and confirm THREE conservative Supreme Court justices (Alito, Roberts and Gorsuch). Now he's advising Trump on Kennedy's replacement.

Trump isn't remaking the Supreme Court. Leo is. huffingtonpost.com/entry/leonard-…
Just how much influence does Leo have on SCOTUS?

Trump is picking a nominee from a list of 25 ppl ― a list that Leo put together for him. When news broke of Kennedy's retirement, Leo took leave from Federalist Society immediately to begin advising Trump. huffingtonpost.com/entry/leonard-…
I asked a judicial nominations expert about the level of influence Leo has in putting justices on the Supreme Court.

“It’s incredible ... I don’t think there’s ever been anything quite like it.” huffingtonpost.com/entry/leonard-…
Let's look at how many Federalist Society members (Leo's group) have landed Supreme Court gigs:

Neil Gorsuch
Samuel Alito
John Roberts
Clarence Thomas
Antonin Scalia
What about the 25 people on Trump's list of potential SCOTUS picks?

All but one ― Margaret Ryan, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ― are Federalist Society members or have been involved with its events.
“We’re at the point where almost the entire Supreme Court is something Leonard Leo was active in in this process."

That's Carrie Severino of Judicial Crisis Network. They work hand in glove with Leo to get Federalist Society members put onto powerful courts.
What do judicial nominees being fed by the Federalist Society have in common?

They are young, very conservative and have records of being incredibly anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ rights and anti-voting rights.
Trump has been putting Federalist Society members into lifetime court seats since day one. Leo had a big hand in this.

That includes a SCOTUS justice + the better part of 20 district judges and a whopping 21 circuit judges ― nearly one-eighth of all circuit court seats.
“What they have in common is an exceptional hostility to ... workers, civil rights litigants, women, consumers or people who care about the environment."

That's Nan Aron of Alliance for Justice, a progressive judicial advocacy group.
Suffice it to say, no president in modern history has had the kind of influence in reshaping the Supreme Court that Leonard Leo has. Long after Trump, we will be feeling the effects of a court stacked not by him, but by Leo.

FIN.

huffingtonpost.com/entry/leonard-…
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Missing from so much of the news coverage of Native people being outraged by Elizabeth Warren's DNA test: Native voices.

I asked prominent tribal leaders and Native people about it. Surprise: they said Warren is an ally and this narrative is media fodder. huffingtonpost.com/entry/elizabet…
Virtually everyone I talked to -- tribal chiefs, Native politicians, policymakers, advocates, writers -- said they saw nothing wrong with Warren looking into her ancestry. You would never know this from the way mainstream media has covered this. huffingtonpost.com/entry/elizabet…
Here's Richard Sneed, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Is he mad at Warren for taking a DNA test to understand her ancestry? Not. At all.
Read 12 tweets
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I'm gonna do a little thread that I think you should read. (1/14)
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young Native woman named Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind. She lived in Fargo, North Dakota. She was 22 years old. She was eight months pregnant. And then she disappeared. (2/14)
Her parents called the police. After reports of suspicious behavior by a couple who lived in the same apt building as Savanna, the police got a search warrant & smashed in the door to their apt. They found the woman who lived there with a newborn. It was Savanna's baby. (3/14)
Read 14 tweets
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Mitch McConnell just filed cloture for district court nominee Thomas Farr, a guy who helped draft NC's voter suppression law, defended racist gerrymandering + may have lied to senators about aiding Jesse Helms' campaign in disenfranchising black voters. huffingtonpost.com/entry/thomas-f…
Dems have opposed lots of Trump's judicial picks, but Thomas Farr really stands out. Black Caucus members attended his confirmation hearing to oppose him. Every Dem in Judiciary spoke out against him. A civil rights group tied him to “the worst elements of white supremacy."
Every Republican on the Judiciary Committee voted to advance Farr's nomination earlier this year. huffingtonpost.com/entry/thomas-f…

Among them: Jeff Flake, who is currently threatening to hold up all judicial nominees until the Mueller protection bill gets a vote. We'll see if that holds.
Read 6 tweets

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The Suffocation of Democracy

By: Christopher R. Browning

THREAD✔
1/
As a historian specializing in the #Holocaust, #Nazi Germany, and #Europe in the era of the world wars, I have been repeatedly asked about the degree to which the current situation in the United States resembles the interwar period and the rise of #fascism in Europe.
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If Judicial Crisis Network put the list together, it's full on conspiracy.
The Secrets of Leonard Leo
thedailybeast.com/the-secrets-of…
Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), the main source of baseless smears against, and false characterizations of, Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland mediamatters.org/stories-and-in…
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💦Deluge💦

📌Did Kavanaugh float the idea of ‘mistaken identity’ a couple days ago?

📌If Kavanaugh was part of a discussion on a scheme to pin the sexual assault on another man, this alone is disqualifying.

👉🏼What is @OrrinHatch’s involvement in this disinfo campaign?
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📌Whelan involved in helping Kavanaugh’s confirmation is close friends with Kav & Leonard Leo.
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📌If Whelan was working with Kav, L. Leo, Hatch, McGahn & PR Firm, one could make a strong argument that Whelan’s ‘mistaken identity’ thread constitutes obs’n of justice.

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Read 96 tweets
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Democrats Have Very Good Reasons To Go Crazy Over Kavanaugh

Republicans are on the verge of moving the Supreme Court rightward in a way seemingly unthinkable since President Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork.

thefederalist.com/2018/09/07/dem…
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It's #day3 of the Kavanaugh hearing; I'm watching so you don't have to.

Catch up on #day2 below and follow this thread for a play by play.

dailykos.com/stories/2018/9…
@ChuckGrassley's mouth is moving so you know he's lying.

He's caught Kavanaugh's repetition bug. Complaining about Ds wanting to see Kavanaugh's record. Belly-aching about how senators wouldn't want their emails exposed either.
@maziehirono has a response to the claim that she should have asked Obama appointee Judge Paul Watford, not just Kavanaugh, about affiliation with sexual predator Judge Kozinski.

It's a doozy.
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