New Leo/Alito Relationship Revealed in Recent Disclosure

WASHINGTON, DC – New reporting from Law360 uncovered a previously-unknown tie between Justice Samuel Alito and conservative kingpin Leonard Leo included in Alito’s 2022 disclosure. In the disclosure, which was made public last week after a months-long delay, Alito revealed that he is now chair of a new Leo-backed initiative alongside one of fellow Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s closest friends — the latest in a long pattern of concerning relationships between Supreme Court justices and wealthy conservative influencers.

“These cozy relationships are too close to be coincidental. Leonard Leo, Harlan Crow, and other megadonor influence-peddlers like them must be held accountable for their key roles in the Supreme Court corruption crisis,” continued Herrig. 

In April 2021, Leonard Leo directed a $4.25 million gift to the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law to establish The Project for Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. A year later, Alito was named honorary chair of the advisory council for the new initiative. Leo and Alito were already well-acquainted — Leo “played an important role” in Alito’s Supreme Court confirmation and “helped organize” Alito’s undisclosed luxury fishing trip with hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer.

Joining Alito on the advisory council was Nicole Stelle Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School and one of Justice Amy Coney Barrett “closest friends.” Around the same time, Garnett also became a director on the board of the Federalist Society, where Leonard Leo serves as co-chairman.

Upcoming CIT events include talks held at key extremist conservative organizations such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, of which Supreme Court billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow is a trustee.

As Law 360’s Katie Buehler notes, “Congress has tried to investigate Leo’s and Crow’s influence on the high court, but both men have separately pushed back against requests from Senate Democrats for information about their relationships with Justices Alito and Thomas, respectively. Concerns over high court ethics have led lawmakers to push for legislation that would require theSupreme Court to establish a code of ethics and publish it publicly. And Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., on Monday took the “highly unusual” step of filing an ethics complaint against Justice Alito for allegedly violating “several canons of judicial ethics.”

Accountable.US has repeatedly called for action in the wake of the serious ethics issues undermining our nation’s highest court and involving key conservative influencers like Leonard Leo. Learn more about Leo’s dark network and dangerous agenda at LeonardLeo.org.