NPR reports:

Leonard Leo may not be a household name, but odds are most people in the country know his signature achievement:

Leo was a key architect of the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court that rolled back the federal right to an abortion.

The conservative activist advised President-elect Donald Trump during his first term on the nominations of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The three picks gave conservatives their 6-3 majority on the high court. And all of them voted to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision.

For decades, as a leading figure in the Federalist Society and other conservative legal groups, Leo identified and promoted the careers of lawyers and law clerks who shared his views of the constitution.

He supported the confirmations of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito. Now, having done so much to influence American jurisprudence, Leo has set his sights on reshaping American culture.

His plans involve the Teneo Network, which describes itself as a “talent pipeline” for the conservative movement, with ambitions to influence Hollywood, Silicon Valley and other cultural power centers that he and fellow conservatives see as dominated by liberals. The proposed technique is similar to Leo’s network of judicial nominees: raising money from conservative donors to help identify, connect and promote the careers of like-minded people. In the language of Teneo’s one-page website, the group exists “to Recruit, Connect, and Deploy talented conservatives who lead opinion and shape the industries that shape society.”

Leo spoke to Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep about the opportunity he anticipates to exert more conservative influence on the judiciary under a second Trump presidency and his plans to “crush liberal dominance” of American culture. [Continue reading…]