But Who Gets Sammy Alito in the Divorce?

Since I was traveling, I’m a bit late to  Trump’s fantastic 510-word Truth Social post, in which he calls Leonard Leo a sleazebag and blames the Federalist Society that Trump-appointed judges — including US Court of International Trade Judge Timothy Reif — have ruled against him and even suggests that people he calls “Radical Left Judges” are in cahoots with “very bad people” who by context must include Leo. 🤡🤡🤡

Simply fantastic.

I’ve annotated the post to unpack the treatise, which reads as if Peter Navarro and Mike Davis got together, chomped a bunch of hallucinogens, and stole the keys to Trump’s Truth Social account.

The key points are:

  • The tariffs are — Trump lies, repeatedly — super duper good!
  • The US Court of International Trade ruled they’re illegal, but the Federal Court of Appeals (which disappears later in this screed) put that ruling on hold
  • Leonard Leo (and not Mike Davis, who played a central role in confirming judges during Trump’s first Administration) must be responsible every time a Trump-appointed judge rules against Trump, because it surely can’t be the law and surely can’t be Trump’s (or Mike Davis’) shitty picks
  • And therefore (there’s really no therefore here — it does not logically follow at all) SCOTUS must reverse this decision

I’ve been tracking the significance of right wing support for these tariff challenges from the start.

It matters that not just a Leonard Leo-funded group but also a Koch-backed group opposed Trump’s tariffs — and his unconstitutional power grab in imposing them — even before Gavin Newsom and then a bunch of other Democratic states did (last week’s decision pertained to the Koch-funded effort; the one associated with Leo is still pending). It matters that there are some issues that are so dear to right wing jurisprudence (or pocketbooks) and are so clearly reserved for Congress that left, right, and centrist opposition to Trump can agree on those issues. It matters that the topic at hand, Trump’s tariffs, have already done so much damage to the US economy and stature in the world.

This treatise appears to be an attempt to deal with both those issues: Trump has been ruled to have violated the law over and over again, including (increasingly) by Trump-appointed judges and if SCOTUS sides with the Koch Foundation and Democratic states on this, it’ll be an enormous rebuke to Trump’s unlawful power grabs.

This legal case is one that threatens his entire bid to authoritarian power, not because it is key to codifying his police state, politicizing government, or destroying civil society — the other topics that SCOTUS has and will review in months ahead — but because it unifies left, right, and center.

And so Trump implores SCOTUS, a SCOTUS on which his two most reliable allies, Clarence Thomas and Sammy Alito, also happen to have benefitted from a lifetime of Leo’s lucrative attention, to “QUICKLY and DECISIVELY” side with him here. Poor Trump even whimpers, “I hope that is not so, and don’t believe it is!” that Leo controls SCOTUS, because if he did (the post implies) Trump would lose this case.

Perhaps Trump means this as a challenge to Clarence and Sammy’s self-respect.

As I said, I got to this fantastic post late. Much ink has been spilled about the extent to which this reflects a real break from Leo’s vetting of judicial candidates. Certainly Davis has promised to find real nutjobs in this second term. The screed appeared the day after Pam Bondi wrote the American Bar Association to tell them she believed their adherence to legal standards made them biased and so would exclude them from reviewing Trump’s judicial nominees. So it may well just be an effort to roll out a wider approach to installing hack judges.

That’s an interesting and important question; after all, Trump has yet to confirm any judge this term, so it’s possible that without Leo’s diligence, Trump simply won’t stack the courts like he did his first term. It’s also true that (as this post and his recent nomination of Emil Bove makes clear) Trump’s litmus test for judges going forward will be fealty to him, not the law.

But in the short term, I’m most interested in who gets Sammy Alito in the divorce. Who gets the hundreds of judges Trump appointed his first term. Who gets Aileen Cannon. Who gets everyone else who owes a decade of career advancement to Leo’s curation and care?

I imagine, in the short term, this is meant just like it reads. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump concludes, after giving SCOTUS an order. Don’t let Leonard Leo tell you what to do, that’s my job!

But it could well backfire among judges who do owe allegiance to the networks Leo built.

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50 replies
  1. Sussex Trafalgar says:

    Excellent piece! Thank you!

    I think this point you make:

    “Perhaps Trump means this as a challenge to Clarence and Sammy’s self-respect.”

    is spot-on correct.

    It is also a public challenge to Leo from Trump for Leo to use his control of Thomas & Alito to issue future rulings that favor Trump.

    Trump grew up watching his father and, later, Roy Cohn, bribe and browbeat third parties into supporting their respective goals and objectives.

    Trump is a creature of habit who never changes. .

    Reply
  2. flounder says:

    I think this event will ultimately be used as Kabuki theater in furtherance of pushing sitting and future right wing judges to the right. Leonard Leo is probably pissed like Trump that judges he vouched for are reading and following the Constitution and precedent in most cases. If it takes Trump calling him bad names to get more fascist judges, Leo’s okay with that.

    Reply
    • Ginevra diBenci says:

      Leonard Leo would not (I think) share Trump’s pissed-ness at judges doing their actual job. While the Fed Soc has bred zealots, it has prided itself on turning out *credentialed* zealots who know how the system works, and operate within its rules.

      This moment EW takes up in her post strikes me as the inevitable implosion of the Trump-Leo alliance. In 2016, Trump’s campaign gained conservative imprimatur when the candidate agreed to nominate judges approved by the Federalist Society; Trump needed Leo, who saw Trump as a useful conduit to achieving his own long game.

      Now the power dynamic is reversed. The Unitary Executive, once an abstract theory embraced by Leo and his colleagues, has been incarnated in Donald Trump–now that SCOTUS has granted him almost total immunity. Leo’s religious idealism begat a paradigm now being exercised by a sociopathic, corrupt con man…who thinks that tariffs get paid by China. When they very much don’t.

      Reply
  3. MsJennyMD says:

    Great post and title. Thank you for dissecting.
    Mr. My Way, My Way and Only My Way had help with the 510-word post. Too many BIG words for him.

    Reply
  4. Bob Roundhead says:

    Finally, something trump says that I agree with. Leo does indeed hate America. He wants a fascist theocracy.

    Reply
  5. Katherine Williams says:

    The Federalist Society has played a major role in legally protecting Trump since 2017-now, and a huge help in getting Trump re-elected in 2020. Big Time. Just like the TV networks, corporate media, people like Bezos, Kochs, and so on. Now they’e shocked that the Snake (see Trump’s campaign speeches) has bitten them! Because even Leo can’t force SCOTUS to completely discard the US Constitution, to abandon their own power and authority, all for a snake.

    Reply
  6. earlofhuntingdon says:

    Trump is whimsical as hell. Len Leo is consistent and laser-focused. If my judicial career had to be dependent on one person, it would not be Trump.

    Reply
  7. earlofhuntingdon says:

    I’m not sure Thomas and Alito have any self-respect for Trump to challenge. They do seem to have enormous self-regard.

    Reply
  8. Cheez Whiz says:

    5 months ago, some people speculated on how a government based on a cult of personality can go off the rails, from conflicts within the inner circle jostling for power. I don’t recall anyone choosing conflict with institutional allies of The Leader, but to be fair we’ve seen no response from Leo (he’s no fool) or the Federalist Society, and only vague complaints from Chief Justice Roberts. The courts have slowed Trump, but minions keep coming up with workarounds and ICE is firing on all 4 cylinders, though they physically can’t hit their target numbers. Trump needs the Supreme Court to validate his fantasies, and the question is where will they draw the line between protecting Trump and protecting their own power and “legitimacy” because you can bet that matters more to them than Trump.

    Reply
    • emptywheel says:

      Leo did respond.

      Leo, in a brief statement in response, did not criticize the president.

      “I’m very grateful for President Trump transforming the Federal Courts, and it was a privilege being involved,” Leo said. “There’s more work to be done, for sure, but the Federal Judiciary is better than it’s ever been in modern history, and that will be President Trump’s most important legacy.”

      Reply
    • Matt___B says:

      ICE needs to be firing on more cylinders than 4 if they want to achieve Miller’s objectives. That’s what the BB Bill is supposed to be for (in part), amping up their budget significantly. WWSD? (What will the Senate do?).

      Reply
  9. Palli Davis Holubar says:

    Ancillary discussion from a non-lawyer: Cabinet secretaries & the deputies do not have his blanket immunity. Have federal judges issued any writs of mandamus against specific federal trump employees for constitutional lawbreaking? If not, why not?

    Reply
    • ToldainDarkwater says:

      I’m not a lawyer either, nor do I read court filings as assiduously as Marcy does.

      My guess is that courts/judges need very specific acts by very specific people that are uncontroversially contradictory to court orders in order to hold lawyers and administration officials in contempt.

      Meanwhile the Trump legal team has been doing a lot of “I don’t knows” and “I’ll get back to you on that” and “Oh, we didn’t know that”. Making themselves very hard to pin down, and very hard to pierce through. It’s a lot like “I don’t recall”.

      I find I can’t predict whether this will break through, let alone when.

      Reply
      • Palli Davis Holubar says:

        The trump administration is negligent & undisciplined in all government affairs. One attribute that distinguishes it from the Nazis. So maybe it should start It with the foot soldiers. Regarding immigration raids, who plans & hires these local thugs? What are the employment contracts? Or is it considered “pick up” day work? What is the personal liability when government LE training & hiring practices seem ad hoc, sloppy, require no dress code & permit burglar head gear. There are standing laws in most states that could be stumbling blocks for outright kidnapping & warrantless business & home invasions. Identifying & charging newly hired brownshirts in law abiding municipalities seems an important for public safety. In 2014, civilians began researching & identifying racist violent cops before. It was useful to the Justice movement.

        Reply
  10. Benji-am-Groot says:

    Well now, a mind is a terrible thing.

    ‘Divorce’ is mentioned in the title of this piece, divorce usually involves a lawyer.

    TACO is a great acronym, as is PINO (president in name only).

    I recall a lawyer about a year ago losing a 34 count felony conviction against The Felon Guy Krasnov – fellow named TACOPINA.

    Damn – it almost worked out exactly….best I can do on short notice.

    Fekking Alito can be an orphan in the divorce – and Leonard Leo does not seem to be anywhere done with pushing activist, wannabe fascist judges to fit his theocratic vision. Hope Leo XIV can tamp that clown down a bit before it’s waaay too late.

    Reply
    • Matt___B says:

      Hmmm…reminds of Kristi Noem’s great idea of having a reality-show “contest” will illegal immigrants where the winner gets U.S. citizenship.

      In this case, they could stage a Leo vs. Leo cage match. Winner gets to keep democracy going for a while longer…

      Reply
  11. Challenger says:

    I wonder how Trump will react, to Ukraine today, taking out a large part of Russia’s nuclear and conventional strike capability. While Trump is focused on his enrichment and greed and his diversions from this main goal. What a ballsy little attack by Ukraine.

    Reply
    • Matt Foley says:

      Dear Donald,

      I’m getting slammed by Zelenskyy over here. I thought you said he doesn’t have any cards. WTF? He destroyed dozens of my planes. That reminds me: I sure could use that 747. You’re not using it and besides, you owe me after I helped you win.

      Regards,
      Your pal Vlad

      Reply
  12. scroogemcduck says:

    “which reads as if Peter Navarro and Mike Davis got together, chomped a bunch of hallucinogens, and stole the keys to Trump’s Truth Social account.”

    I think it’s quite likely that a lot of Trump WH is hepped up on goofballs – PEDs, uppers, downers, hallucinogens, psychedelics – at all times.

    Reply
    • Matt___B says:

      Perhaps Musk left behind one of his gift box of assortments for the remaining sycophants still occupying various corners of the White House?

      Reply
    • Matt Foley says:

      Well, they say Trump is “high energy”.

      MAHA
      Make America High Again
      Make America Hallucinate Again

      Reply
      • Wild Bill 99 says:

        One could hope. It was a peace and love movement the last time. I don’t think the current crowd knows the lyrics.

        Reply
  13. LaMissy! says:

    Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has made it his specialty to follow dark money. He speculates that perhaps Trump is the chump in this game on this thread at Bluesky:

    No, no, no — you missed the story here. The Federalist Society is just wallpaper. The Koch political empire is the protagonist, and the likely deal is that in 2016 Kochs let up on Trump (whom they despised) to get to choose his SCOTUS nominees.

    (BTW, the accounts of Senators are coming up as “invalid” on the Bluesky site.)
    https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qqixzm5pwprzdnkbh2hglpax/post/3lqj74hksdk2y

    Reply
    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Good Sheldon isn’t always right, or at least, complete. The antagonist may be the Kochs, it’s also Leo, now that he has his own $1.6 billion to play with, and a dozen other billionaires.

      Reply
      • RitaRita says:

        Trump’s tariffs are not popular with the Billionaire crowd. And it wouldn’t surprise me if some of them realize that Trump’s lust for power is as insatiable as his desire to humiliate his rivals. And anyone with more money than he has is a rival.

        Reply
  14. BRUCE F COLE says:

    Thanks for the great framing that the title of this post posits, Marcy. Brilliant encapsulation of the schism.

    Back in 2015 Melania said that anyone who crosses her sugar daddy will get 10 times the payback from him, and that’s what this little tiff is all about — in what passes for Trump’s thinking processes, at least. From the response you note above that Leo posted, it’s evident that Leo is totally absorbing the hit, much like the cowering spouse of an abuser.

    This episode also highlights the bile-driven process that Trump is operating under these days: no thought whatsoever given to strategy or persuasion — only grievance and fulmination consuming him and issuing from the tattered remnants of his consciousness.

    Reply
  15. Estragon says:

    It’s an interesting moment in the zeitgeist. I do like to keep an eye on the MAGA ultras and so I spend (probably too much) time monitoring Eugene Volokh’s shop. The MAGAttiest contributor has now written 4 posts in not even as many days, darkly predicting an internecine war among the right and repeating the phrase “a storm is coming/brewing” in each post. It is unclear to me at this juncture whether the Q-evocative language is intentional.

    Reply
  16. Memory hole says:

    A piece of good news you reported in this post was that Trump has yet to confirm any judges. That may(?) have more to do with Trump demanding sycophants over capable right wingers; even more than any lack of effort from Mr. Leo.
    Last time in office Trump started with Don McGahn as White House Counsel.
    I recall him saying something like he would only take the job if he was going to be able to work to confirm judges. He had a full focus on packing the bench with his fellow Federalists. Along with a long association with Leonard Leo.
    Maybe none of Trumps bootlickers this time around have the foresight to think ahead for that kind of project. Or maybe, as Trump deteriorates in front of our eyes, he just doesn’t care anymore.

    Reply
    • BRUCE F COLE says:

      It may have much to do with his being distracted, even overwhelmed, by his mulitvarious attempts to overthrow democracy in the US — a wild conglomeration of time- and energy- and “thought”-consuming ventures, if there ever was one.

      He may also be getting brake-pumping undercurrents from some GOP Senators, also.

      Reply
  17. ShallMustMay08 says:

    “Simply Fantastic”

    Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Huzzah and a big cheer here from the cheap seat.

    I paused before reading (seeing a post link as I glanced on my ‘sky’ bookmark) – and thought no – no – ‘please … don’t take my racehorse away.’

    I watched the live – the original “ist’s” version appear as it happened and hooted and cheered the competent (s/) folks that let it all rip. They all (meaning all abuser’s) have a way of getting to the skin of it. Masterful play. ;)

    As always, appreciate this deeper dive in which no one other in ‘press ‘ will touch as the 4th pillar crumbles. Sure, some just beat another drum but most bootlick in drama or cast novella’s.

    Very well done – a well laid easy peasy inside path for a few others if they choose to bring the heft they self seek.

    Reply
  18. PD-Japan says:

    Perhaps the target is Leo, or perhaps this is a shot over the bow aimed at SCOTUS, no more mr. nice guy (relatively speaking), my way or a straight up constitutional crisis. Or it may be just another spring that sprung. Time will tell.

    Reply
  19. OldTulsaDude says:

    The tragedy is that to the 45% that the polls show are still solidly behind Trump this article is a lie and Trump’s screed is Gospel. When you talk to them, all they do is repeat the right wing propaganda.
    There must be a way to reach them but I’m at a loss what that could be.

    Reply
    • Zinsky123 says:

      I feel your pain. It has been said that Hitler still had the support of 25% of the German people when he had the gun in his mouth in the bunker while Berlin was in flames above him. So, Trump diehards will support this incompetent, demented lunatic until the end. To address Marcy’s post – I think this only represents a minor schism in the GOP. Leo will continue to push forward ideologially right jurists while Trump rages about judicial opinions that don’t favor him. And the world spins on….

      Reply
    • Rayne says:

      There’s always going to be a sticky percentage of the population unable to learn and grow out of their authoritarian natures. I recall reading that percentage fluctuates between 20-30% of the total population but I can’t remember if it was from Bob Altemeyer’s work on authoritarians or Beck and Cowan’s Spiral Dynamics work about effecting social change based on levels of consciousness across a population.

      Our challenge is keeping that number as close to 20% as possible and then dragging them along with the rest of us. What will it take to persuade the percentage of folks on the bubble of authoritarianism to reject it?

      Reply
      • harold hecuba says:

        “What will it take…” the slow drip drip of reality.

        I work with some Trumpers and I do my best to interject with actual facts whenever I see an opportunity. I make clear that I’m not trying to change their minds, but just show them the other side of the coin, so to speak.

        I can see some progress. They’re angrier than they were in January, and they feel less inclined to engage with me re: politics (note: i’m not that bright; as one of them said to me as an insult, “You’re too informed!”). I’m hoping that translates to just giving up going to the polls in 2026.

        Until then, I continue the slow drip drip of reality.

        Reply
      • harpie says:

        Rayne’s comment got me to go back and look at this.

        In July 2017, John DEAN wrote:

        Altemeyer on Trump’s Supporters https://verdict.justia.com/2017/07/07/altemeyer-trumps-supporters

        […] Working in 2005, I asked [Bob Altemeyer] what percentage of the American population might he estimate (or intelligently guess) were authoritarian followers, and he thought maybe 30 percent. […]

        In October 2021, ALTEMEYER wrote:

        Lessons of the 2020 American Election, January 6th, and Beyond
        https://theauthoritarians.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Lessons-of-the-2020-American-Election.pdf

        [pdf13/16] In the September 2021 German national elections the populist, isolationist right-wing party, Alternative for Germany, which strongly opposes immigration, received only 10% of the vote despite Angela Merkel’s having recently accepted a million refugees from the Near East and Africa. In the USA that platform would probably have garnered at least 40% of the vote. […]

        Also:

        [pdf8/16] I shall be very surprised if he does not run in 2024. He has no control over his needs for dominance and vengeance, and he has to show the world and himself that he is a winner

        Reply
        • harpie says:

          One more quote from the 10/2021 Altemeyer article:

          [pdf12/16] But Trump’s loyalist candidates can still win control of Congress in 2022, and he can still become president again in 2024, if enough persons who oppose him do not vote. […]

  20. Benji-am-Groot says:

    Zinsky123 –

    “So, Trump diehards will support this incompetent, incontinent demented lunatic until the end.”

    FIFY

    Reply

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