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Last week, President Donald Trump took many in the legal world by surprise when he attacked the chief architect of his first-term judicial nomination agenda, Leonard Leo, as a “sleazebag” who “probably hates America.” The tone was distinctly Trumpian, but the target was a bit of a shock. Back in 2016, Leo gave the new president-elect a slate of 21 Supreme Court candidates, all “ Federalist people .” Selection of the 234 judges appointed in Trump’s first term was then “in-sourced” to the Federalist Society, according to former White House counsel Don McGahn.

Trump’s outburst marks a dramatic jolt to the relations

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