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Date: 2025-08-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028746

TRUMP ON THE APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES Sen. Adam Schiff: Donald Trump is Fighting with One of His Top Allies (No, Not That One) PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_Ne0IAL_g4
Donald Trump is Fighting with One of His Top Allies (No, Not That One) Sen. Adam Schiff Jun 11, 2025 402K subscribers ... 414,525 views ... 15K likes Donald Trump and one of his closest allies are fighting. No, it's not Elon Musk. It's someone who played an even more essential role in his efforts to influence the courts. Let's talk about Leonard Leo. --- Join the conversation: → https://www.schiff.senate.gov → / senadamschiff → / senadamschiff → / senadamschiff Sen. Adam Schiff Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess Transcript Transcript Who is Leonard Leo 0:00 donald Trump just called one of his closest adviserss a sleas bag it's this guy that's Leonard Leo leonard Leo one of the most influential people in picking judges for the court and picking judges for Donald Trump so why is Donald Trump suddenly calling Leonard Leo a sleazag let's look at who Leonard Leo is what role he played and what this falling out between Trump and Leo means for you and for the country so Leonard Leo's story really begins at Cornell where he is a law student and it begins with the start of the Federalist Society in 1982 leo joins a few years later this is a legal society designed to ultimately put conservatives on the bench leo is concerned that there are too many liberal professors teaching law and too many liberal judges being appointed to the bench so he joins this group and when he graduates from law school he becomes further involved in this group he goes on to lead the Federalist Society and help raise money for this 1:01 Federalist Society and really transforms it into this powerhouse organization where if you're a conservative and you want to be on the bench you join the Federalist Society i went to law school i graduated around the same time uh Leo was going to law school uh it was a very new phenomenon i'm not even sure that I knew it was in existence at the time but it became this behemoth uh now six out of the nine Supreme Court justices went through that Federalist Society pipeline i think about 86% of the Trump appointed justices in his first term also went through this pipeline but the story gets significant the story of Leo and Trump gets significant when Trump is running for president in 2016 he makes a pledge to appoint justices to the Supreme Court that are all vetted by the Federalist Society so here's Donald Trump in an interview with Breitbart Radio and what he had to say at the time 2:02 and we've put out a list all vetted by Federalists Federalist Society uh highly recommended by them and we have a list of 20 judges and we're putting them out and it's been the list has been unbelievably wellreceived because I wanted to make sure they understood that you know we're putting out a very important list and not that I'd pick some liberal judge after they chose me so I I actually put out a list from which I will only pick in other words I will only pick one of these people given to us by uh the Federalist Societ Society and also Heritage who uh run by a great guy Jim uh but we uh so we have a list of great judges and if for no other reason that should be a reason so The Fall Out 2:45 he's committed to only picking these justices vetted by the Federalist Society and Heritage and other right-wing think tank uh Heritage is more involved than a whole lot of other issues federalist Society really focused on the judiciary so Trump makes good on 3:01 that pledge and he nominates and appoints three justices to the court uh Kavanaaugh Amy Coney Barrett and Gorsuch all recommended by Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society so the falling out takes place four years later four years after his election that is and after he's appointed all these justices to the Supreme Court a court that has overturned Roie Wade this is a signal achievement of Leonard Leo and Donald Trump so the falling out begins at the end of the first Trump administration when Donald Trump is contesting the election that he lost and the Supreme Court doesn't intervene to somehow take the election away from the winner Joe Biden give it to the loser Donald Trump so this infuriates Trump because in Trump's worldview the justices like everyone else are simply there to do his bidding so flash forward four years 4:02 later he's once again elected and the question is is the Federalist Society is Leonard Leo going to play this same role now Leo's role in all of this goes beyond just helping to put these right-wingers on the bench it also goes to making sure that the bench those judges on the bench catered to Leo's wealthy corporate client interests that is all the people who fund the Federalist Society so Leo while these new justices are on the court and some 4:34 of the old Federalist Society justices 4:36 like Scalia and Thomas part of his job 4:39 is to make sure that they cater to the 4:41 business interests in their opinions 4:43 because at the end of the day it's 4:45 really all about the money and so Leo 4:49 helps facilitate relationships between 4:52 these justices particularly on the 4:54 Supreme Court but on other courts as 4:56 well and these wealthy corporate 4:58 interests and so Leo is the one who 5:01 helps arrange the private trips for 5:05 Clarence Thomas with Harlon Crowe that 5:08 Texas billionaire and other trips exotic 5:12 vacations paid for by these corporate 5:15 dark money interests fishing trips uh in 5:18 Alaska i mean all these boondoggle 5:22 vacations for justices that go 5:24 unreported because there's no 5:25 enforceable code of ethics for the 5:27 Supreme Court all the stuff that has 5:30 come out in recent years uh through a 5:32 lot of ProPublica reporting Leonard Leo 5:36 is at the center of it essentially 5:38 making sure these justices are happy on 5:40 the bench making sure these justices are 5:43 meeting these corporate clients that 5:45 will give money to Leonard Leo it's this 5:47 whole nefarious cycle so flash forward 5:51 into Trump administration 2.0 and the 5:53 question is is this going to continue is 5:56 Trump going to continue to go through 5:58 Leonard Leo through the Federalist 5:59 Society to put people on the bench and 6:04 here you have a decision of a three 6:07 court judge panel the tariff decision in 6:12 which this tariff court says that Donald 6:15 Trump has violated the law by using this 6:18 emergency power to impose tariffs now 6:22 one of those judges was a Trump 6:25 appointee uh two of them I think were 6:27 appointed by Republican presidents one 6:28 was appointed by Trump and Trump is 6:30 apoplelectic there goes another judge 6:34 another Trump appointee another 6:36 Federalist Society judge not doing 6:38 Donald Trump's bidding uh Trump is also 6:41 deeply disappointed apparently in Amy 6:44 Coney Barrett because she's not 6:46 right-wing all the time so this is what 6:50 causes Trump to erupt this tariff 6:54 decision on top of the disappointment of 6:56 Amy Coney Barrett uh on top of the even 6:59 broader disappointed that the justices 7:01 that he appointed didn't throw the 7:03 election to him when he lost his 7:05 reelection so this is why they're having 7:09 a falling out now the other important 7:10 point between the falling out between 7:13 Donald Trump and Leonard Leo is just 7:16 whose interests Leonard Leo really 7:18 represents so Leonard Leo represents the 7:22 interests of these very wealthy 7:25 corporate donors so it's all about the 7:27 money for Leonard Leo for Donald Trump 7:30 it's all about Donald Trump and here's 7:32 the collision leonard Leo is for these 7:34 other billionaires he's not there for 7:37 the one billionaire that Donald Trump 7:39 cares about and that's Donald Trump so 7:41 that's why we have this collision of 7:43 interests and in the context of this as 7:46 Trump starts to nominate new judges 7:50 we're going to have to vet them very 7:51 carefully are these people simply going 7:53 to do Trump's bidding or are they going 7:55 to pay attention to something called the 7:57 Constitution and the rule of law so 8:00 Trump has nominated his first slate we 8:02 had our first confirmation hearings now 8:04 one of the nominees Whitney Herman 8:06 Dorfer nominated for the Court of 8:08 Appeals judgeship came before our 8:10 committee i was particularly interested 8:12 frankly in her take on the Federalist 8:14 Society she has been a Federalist 8:16 Society member for a long time uh and I 8:19 also want to get her take on Leonard Leo 8:20 where was she in this fight between 8:22 Donald Trump and Leonard Leo how would 8:24 she view her job whether it would be to 8:27 obey the Constitution and the law or 8:30 just obesence to Donald Trump here were 8:33 some of her answers um I want to ask you The Federalist Society 8:35 about this you're a member of the 8:37 Federalist Society correct that's 8:39 correct and for how long for how many 8:41 years believe I joined in law school 8:44 Senator uh so over a decade ago then 8:47 about a decade and were you recommended 8:50 for a judgeship by the Federalist 8:51 Society i have no knowledge of why I was 8:55 recommended or whether the Federalist 8:56 Society had any role federal Societ The 8:59 Federalist Society does though recommend 9:01 judges to the administration do they not 9:03 or did they not i had no involvement in 9:06 that i'm not sure i've seen reporting to 9:09 suggest they had some involvement but I 9:11 have no personal knowledge of that 9:13 senator uh do you think having been a 9:15 member of the Federal Society for over a 9:17 decade that they're under the thumb of a 9:19 real sleazag named Leonard Leo is that 9:21 your view 9:22 in my perspective the Federal Society 9:24 has been um a wonderful place to get 9:27 together with the many many lawyers who 9:29 are members and learned about the law 9:30 and discuss issues um aside from my own 9:34 experience I as a judicial nominee I 9:36 don't think it's appropriate for me to 9:38 comment on any public policy debate 9:40 about the Federalist Society um or the 9:43 particular quotation you're referencing 9:45 uh do you know Leonard Leo 9:48 i've met him a few times uh at 9:50 Federalist Society events but I I 9:52 wouldn't say that I know him well or 9:54 that he knows me uh do you concur with 9:57 the president's assessment that he's a 9:59 sleeves again Senator that type of um 10:03 interpersonal or political dispute I don't think is appropriate for me to John Kennedy 10:06 comment on but I also wanted to pin her down on a continuing concern many of us have and that is whether the courts will enforce their judgments against the administration whether court orders will be enforcable or whether they will simply let the president ignore what the court's rule here were her evasive answers to my questions and followup by one of the Republican senators John Kennedy who shares the same concern i wanted to just follow up on one of your answers to Senator Durban uh he asked about the necessity of following court orders and you were very specific in your answer and said that if the Supreme Court rules that you have to then you have to follow the order as it pertains to the parties to the to the case i want to ask you about a lower court ruling though uh you would agree would you not that if a district court rules 11:00 uh pending appeal or pending any other stay or action by a higher court that uh the parties covered by that order including the administration need to abide by that order as I mentioned to ranking member Durban the normal course if you disagree with a court order is to seek appellet review in the way that you mentioned yes um I I do note that my understanding is yesterday there was some testimony about you know particular cases um and nuances of that debate that um I think are active and um obviously the interaction of article 3 and article 2 is an actively litigated matter um but absolutely in the normal course the proper way to vindicate your rights is through the appellet process so thank you all right all right thank you thank you Senator no really John yeah I do oh my gosh let's look at this all order has is dissolving okay go ahead but that's it i'm serious senator Gresley is going to come in here and hit me with this i want to be be sure I understand Professor 12:01 District Court rules in a case you got pliff or defendant and defendant you're representing the plainif your plainif is is is very unhappy are there any circumstances under which you would advise your the plaintiff to ignore the federal court order so of course as a judicial nominee I would be trying to issue I don't want to split hairs here the the normal process is to um I know what the normal process is can you think of any circumstances where you would tell the plaintiffs nope you don't don't pay attention as federal judge so the problem with answering it that categorically is that there are potentially some very extraordinary situations you could imagine um that could come before me as a judge so this is a subject of um tremendous care i'd be real careful all right Senator all right all right now Herman Dorfer really Amil Bove 13:02 is part of the old school nominees kind of ironic that at the time of this falling out between Trump and Leo that the first court of appeals judge would be more in the Leo Federalist Society mold but there is a very different court of appeals nominee that may be a much stronger indication of the future trend of Donald Trump nominees and that is Amil Bove amil Boove was one of Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyers he's been nominated now for the court of appeals he is a right-wing ideologue who is 100% in the tank for Donald Trump we can have no confidence whatsoever in his willingness to follow the law rather than following the leader we're likely to see a lot more nominees that look like a male Bove and as for Leonard Leo well he's gone on in part to do other things he has now started some group called the Tanao Society which is designed to try to attack progressives in Hollywood and the entertainment 14:01 industry in the media in the business world so he's broadening his horizons in the cultural warfare that he began leading the Federalist Society and as for the relationship between Donald Trump and Leonard Leo well the following out looks a little bit like this oh man Spit Shine 14:17 I haven't seen you in six years how you doing Billy christ the mighty terrific how you feeling watch the suit watch the sue you little freak you hey I know you are my life all right good people for getting too big on me now don't go busting my balls Billy okay hey Tommy if I was going to break your balls I tell you to go home and get your shine box oh this kid this kid's kid was great i They used to call him Spit Shine Tommy i swear to God oh he make your shoes look like mirrors excuse my language he was terrific he was the best he made a lot of money too salute Tommy no more shines Billy what i said no more shines maybe you didn't hear about it you've been away a long time they didn't go up they didn't tell you i don't shine shoes 15:01 anymore relax where you crying out what's What's getting to you i'm breaking your balls a little bit that's all i'm only kidding with you sometimes you don't sound like you're kidding you know there's a lot of people around i mean I'm only kidding with you we're having a party i mean I just came home i haven't seen you in a long time and I'm breaking your balls and you right away you're getting fish i'm sorry i don't mean to offend you i'm sorry too it's okay no problem okay sal now go home and get your shine box you you piece of Yeah yeah

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