type: timeline_event By 2000, the Council for National Policy had established deep coordination with the Federalist Society through overlapping membership and shared strategy sessions, with Leonard Leo serving as a member of both organizations and coordinating judicial selection strategy across the conservative network.
CNP's membership lists included leaders of the Federalist Society alongside Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and Alliance Defending Freedom, creating a coordination structure that linked conservative legal strategy (Federalist Society) with policy development (Heritage), state legislation (ALEC), and litigation strategy (ADF).
Leonard Leo, who would become executive vice president of the Federalist Society and architect of the conservative Supreme Court supermajority, was a member of both the Federalist Society and CNP. First Liberty's president and Leo were both CNP members, allowing coordination of judicial selection with broader conservative movement strategy.
The Washington Post obtained audio of Leonard Leo speaking to CNP members about the transformation taking place in the courts, demonstrating how CNP served as the venue where Federalist Society judicial strategy was coordinated with Heritage Foundation policy, ALEC legislation, and donor funding priorities.
Leo assisted Clarence Thomas in his Supreme Court confirmation hearings and led campaigns to support nominations of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. His CNP membership meant this judicial selection work could be coordinated with the broader conservative movement's institutional strategy.
According to Documented, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at CNP events, while his wife Ginni Thomas served on the board of CNP Action. This created a direct coordination channel between the Supreme Court, the Federalist Society's judicial network, and CNP's broader conservative coordination infrastructure.
According to internal documents, Leo coordinated with the Bradley Foundation in 2014 to provide funding to his Judicial Education Project to flood the Supreme Court with amicus briefs supporting right-wing causes. This coordination of funding, brief-writing, and case strategy could be synchronized through CNP's network.
The CNP-Federalist Society coordination explained how conservative judicial strategy aligned seamlessly with Heritage Foundation policy priorities, ALEC state legislation, and Alliance Defending Freedom litigation. These organizations appeared independent but coordinated through CNP's secretive three-times-yearly meetings.
This coordination infrastructure enabled the conservative legal movement to execute a decades-long strategy of judicial capture that culminated in the 6-3 conservative Supreme Court supermajority. The strategy required coordination between Federalist Society judicial selection, Heritage Foundation research supporting conservative legal theories, Alliance Defending Freedom bringing strategic cases, and major donors (also CNP members) funding the network.
CNP served as the coordination hub where Leonard Leo's Federalist Society judicial strategy could be synchronized with the rest of the conservative movement's institutional infrastructure, ensuring judicial appointments, legal theory, litigation strategy, and policy development all moved in lockstep.