Behind the scenes: The Federalist figure helping remake the courts The Mercury News
By Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Shawn Boburg | Washington Post Leonard Leo stepped onto the stage in a darkened Florida ballroom, looked out at a gathering of some of the nation’s most powerful conservative activists and told them they were on the cusp of fulfilling a long-sought dream. For two decades, Leo has been on a mission to turn back the clock to a time before the U.S. Supreme Court routinely expanded the government’s authority and endorsed new rights such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Now, as President Donald Trump’s unofficial judicial adviser, he told the audience at the closed-d…