The Federalist Society Assembly Line
The Court’s current composition isn’t an accident—it’s the culmination of a 40-year project by the Federalist Society and its allies to capture America’s courts.
Since the 1980s, conservative legal activists led by figures like Leonard Leo have built an assembly line for right-wing judges. They identify promising law students, groom them through internships and clerkships, fund their careers, and ultimately deliver them to the Court. Five of the six conservative justices are Federalist Society members, and the sixth, Clarence Thomas, is closely aligned with their ideology.
This isn’t how judicial selection is supposed to work. These justices weren’t chosen for their legal brilliance or judicial temperament—they were selected specifically to deliver predetermined conservative outcomes. The Federalist Society didn’t invest millions of dollars in this project out of abstract legal philosophy. They wanted results, and they got them.
Dark money has flooded this process, with Leonard Leo’s network alone directing over $400 million to influence judicial selection and confirmation battles. We’re not getting the best legal minds; we’re getting ideological warriors funded by anonymous donors.