"Leonard Leo needed no last name in his introduction to this crowd as he took his seat in a black leather chair across from Thomas.

The justice was the featured speaker but Leo may have been the most important person in the American legal system in that room " a conservative activist who had built the Federalist Society into a political powerhouse and helped Trump create the supreme court majority that, in 2022, erased federal protections for abortion."

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"His influence continues to be on display now in one of the most consequential cases moving through the American legal system " one that seeks to strike another blow to abortion rights and could possibly bankrupt Planned Parenthood, one of the nation's leading providers of healthcare for women.

It's a lawsuit that has been filed by an anti-abortion activist tied to Leo and heard by judges " from the lower courts to the fifth circuit appeals court " who are also linked to Leo."