The Next Conservative Civil War Is Coming

The next flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s battle to reshape the federal judiciary is coming — and it’s dividing the right.

Trump recently appeared to declare war on the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative legal advocacy organization that played an essential role in his election both in 2016 and 2024. After one of his first-term appointees ruled against him in a major challenge to his tariffs, Trump launched a public tirade against the former chair of the group, Leonard Leo, who Trump described as a “sleazebag” who “probably hates America” before blaming the group for “bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations.”