Associate justice, US Supreme Court
Samuel Alito, 73, is an American lawyer, devout Catholic, and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W Bush in 2005 and has served since 31 January 2006. He is the 11th Catholic and, following Antonin Scalia, the second Italian-American justice to serve on the US Supreme Court. Alito wrote the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v Wade and delivered a speech to the Religious Liberty Conference in July 2022, stating that religious freedom was “under attack in many places because it is dangerous to those who want to hold complete power”. He has consistently voted in accordance with his conscience, recently dissenting when the Supreme Court reversed a ruling that would have banned the morning-after pill drug, mifepristone.
Lawyer and former supreme knight of Columbus
Carl Anderson, 72, is a lawyer who, until 2021, served as the 13th supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus. He is a board member of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and has served as a member of the board of trustees of the Catholic University of America and the National Catholic Educational Association. Anderson is also vice president of the Washington session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. He was the only Catholic layman from North America to serve as an auditor at the World Synod of Bishops in 2001, 2005 and 2008. In addition, Anderson participated as an auditor in the 2012 Synod of Bishops.
Associate justice, US Supreme Court
Amy Coney Barrett, 51, is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She is the fifth woman to serve on the court after receiving the nomination from former president Donald Trump in 2020. Before and while serving on the federal bench, she has been a professor of law at Notre Dame Law School. In June 2022, Barrett voted to overturn Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey. In June 2021, Barrett joined a unanimous decision in Fulton v City of Philadelphia, ruling in favour of a Catholic social service agency denied funding from the City of Philadelphia because it does not adopt to same-sex couples. In October 2023, she said she and her fellow justices should be subject to a code of ethics to restore public confidence in the nation’s highest bench. All eyes will be on her and conservative bench colleagues in regards to Trump’s appeal to the US supreme court in early 2024 to reverse the ruling that removed him from the ballot in Colorado, for inciting an insurrection. The decision may significantly impact the next US election.
Partner, Jones Day
Steve Brogan, a law graduate of Notre Dame and Boston College, is one of the most influential and respected Catholics in Washington. As the former managing partner of Jones Day, he led the firm for 20 years with a CEO-like role over the company’s 40-plus global offices (he closed its Moscow doors in 2019). The New York Times describes Jones Day as a “global Goliath… bringing all the ruthless energy and creativity of corporate law to the political realm”. With 13 of his firm’s lawyers once forming part of the Trump administration, including former White House counsel Don McGahn, the firm under Brogan exercised unrivalled access and power in Washington. The firm has also played an influential role in filling US courts with conservative Federalist Society judges.
The son of a New York police officer, Brogan’s faith is key to what drives him. He is a “hardcore Catholic and that is the bedrock of who he is”, a Jones Day source told the New York Times in a 2022 profile of the firm. Under Brogan, Jones Day showed strong moral leadership in terms of taking on ideological appeal cases and helping the needy and vulnerable in a wide range of international and domestic causes including Ukraine, human trafficking, the rule of law in Africa and border immigration. Just days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Brogan established a Ukraine task force of lawyers across the US, Europe and the Middle East. This has made charitable contributions and legal assistance to refugees, taken in Ukrainian law students and supported efforts to rebuild
the country.
Brogan notably represented the Catholic Church in its litigation battle against President Obama’s health insurance law. This ruled that employers had to cover the cost of contraception. In June 2017, the Justice Departmemt overruled this, with Jones Day donating its services to the Catholic groups it represented who filed lawsuits. He is one of America’s leading corporate lawyers dealing in complex litigation matters. Brogan stepped down as head of Jones Day at the end of 2022, naming his successor as Gregory Shumaker. Both lawyers share close ties to the University of Notre Dame: Brogan serves on its board of trustees, and Shumaker served on Notre Dame’s Law School Advisory Council.
Former US Solicitor General
Noel Francisco, 54, is a senior Jones Day lawyer who served as 47th Solicitor General of the USA under Donald Trump from 2017-20. He is the first Asian-American to hold the position. His Filipino father came to America to become a doctor in New York. He received a BA in economics with honours in 1991, and his JD with high honours five years later, from the University of Chicago. He is married with two daughters, lives in Washington, and has served on the board of the Lumen Christi Institute.
President, Leahey & Johnson
Peter James Johnson, serving as the president of Leahey & Johnson in New York, has built a distinguished reputation as a trial lawyer, appellate lawyer and litigator. He has represented and championed the causes of families who lost loved ones in the police and fire services and has been an advocate for the victims of the September 11 attacks. In recognition of his contributions, Johnson holds the title of honorary deputy chief of the New York Fire Department. Additionally, he has served as a director and received honours from the Catholic Interracial Council.
Associate justice, US Supreme Court
Brett Kavanaugh, 58, serves as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court. Nominated by former President Donald Trump in 2018, Kavanaugh’s confirmation was marked by a closely contested vote in the US Senate. Prior to his appointment, he held the position of US circuit judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Kavanaugh is of Irish Catholic descent. He has participated in serving meals to the homeless as part of church programmes and has also given his time to tutoring at the Washington Jesuit Academy, a Catholic private school in DC. As a former Trump nominee to the Supreme Court, his ruling in regards to whether the former president can be omitted from the Colorado primary ballot may have significant ramifications for the 2024 US election
Former commissioner, New York City Police
Raymond Kelly, 83, is a former New York police commissioner. He is the longest-serving commissioner in the history of the NYPD and the first man to hold the post for two non-consecutive tenures. Kelly had spent 45 years in the NYPD, serving in 25 different commands. He was a Marine Corps Reserve colonel, director of police under the United Nations Mission in Haiti, and an Interpol vice president. Kelly graduated from Archbishop Molloy High School in 1959 and also holds a JD from the St John’s University School of Law. Kelly has also been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees from universities including St Thomas Aquinas College and the Catholic University of America.
Co-chair, the Federalist Society
Leonard Leo, 59, is an American attorney and a conservative advocate and one of the most influential Catholic lay leaders and philanthropists in the US. He held the position of vice president for an extended period at the Federalist Society and currently serves as the co-chairman of the organisation’s board of directors alongside Steven Calabresi. He was instrumental in securing funding for, and ensuring the appointments, of most of the six conservative judges on the nation’s highest bench, including Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, who voted to overturn Roe v Wade. He is also an important figure working behind the scenes to sustain Christian values in public life as well as championing free speech.
Having served as the national co-chairman for Catholic outreach with the Republican National Committee and as the Catholic strategist for the 2004 Bush presidential campaign, Leo is a leading Catholic in the field of law. He holds a position on the board of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and has contributed to the boards of both the Catholic Association and its affiliated Catholic Association Foundation. In December 2023, Politico reported on Leo’s continuing public influence in those groups, and allies aligned with the conservative legal movement, of which Leo is regarded as the financial architect, are working together to promote a publicly funded Christian school in Oklahoma. They hope this will become a test case to change the Supreme Court’s First Amendment’s presumed separation of church and state in educational and faith matters.
The school in question is the St Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which may become the US’s first religious school funded by tax dollars. The school already won approval from its school board in June. “If it survives legal challenges, it would open the door for state legislatures across the country to direct taxpayer funding to the creation of Christian or other sectarian schools,” wrote Politico.
Known for his tailored three-piece suits, carrying a pocket watch, Catholic philanthropy and personal charisma, Leo operates from a large office in the Federalist Society Building in DC. He holds a BA from Cornell University and a JD from Cornell Law School. He is a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and has seven children with his wife, Sally. They live between Northeast Harbor, Maine, and Washington DC.
Lawyer
Charles LiMandri, 69, is an American lawyer based in California, known for his legal battles in defence of religious freedom. One of his prominent cases involved litigating against the American Civil Liberties Union in defence of the Mount Soledad Cross in San Diego, a case that extended over 25 years. In 2002, LiMandri founded the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) to support his pro bono work advocating for religious freedom. In 2021, he achieved success in litigation against the State of California before the US Supreme Court, compelling the governor to open churches for 40 million people. In 2022, LiMandri merged the FCDF into the Thomas More Society, a Catholic public interest law firm dedicated to promoting and protecting traditional family and pro-life values, as well as the religious freedom of Christians.
Partner, Taft Law
George D Molinsky, a partner at Taft Law in Cincinnati, specialises in corporate law. Best Lawyers named him Cincinnati’s lawyer of the year for mergers and acquisitions law (2017) and venture capital law (2018 and 2021). He serves as a board member for Ruah Woods, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, and the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee. He studied at Notre Dame University, where he obtained his BA and JD, laying the foundation for his successful career in corporate law.
Senior partner, Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore
Thomas Moore, a senior partner at the New York law firm Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore, is one of the best trial lawyers in the US. He has a remarkable success rate, having won nine out of ten cases, and been named lawyer of the year multiple times by Super Lawyers magazine. He is a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, an elite group consisting of the top 100 trial attorneys in the country. Moore studied at the Catholic University of America and Fordham Law School. He has funded scholarships for Fordham and endowed a chair in trial advocacy.
17th chief justice, US Supreme Court
John Roberts, 68, has served as the 17th chief justice of the US Supreme Court since his appointment by President George W Bush in 2005. He is one of 15 Catholic judges in the Supreme Court’s history and one of six on the current Supreme Court. Yet despite his Catholic faith and image as a conservative justice, Roberts has often compromised with the court’s liberals on social issues. He has voted in favour of certain restrictions to abortion, but he was not in favour of overturning Roe v Wade.
Former executive, Blackwater Worldwide
Joseph E Schmitz, 67, is a lawyer, former executive at Blackwater Worldwide and also a former inspector general of the US Department of Defence. In addition, Schmitz served in the US Navy for four years, was an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, and founded his own firm, Joseph Schmitz PLLC. Schmitz is also a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
Human rights lawyer
Nina Shea, 70, is a distinguished international human rights lawyer and advocate for Christian religious freedom. She is the former director for the Center of Religious Freedom at Freedom House. Since 2006, Shea has held the position of senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, where she directs the Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. Shea was appointed commissioner on the US National Commission to Unesco in 2009. She also represented the US as a delegate to the UN Human Rights Council. She is the author of two books, In the Lion’s Den and Silenced, both addressing issues of anti-Christian discrimination.
Associate justice, US Supreme Court
Sonia Sotomayor, 69, has served on the US Supreme Court since her appointment by President Barack Obama in 2009. She is the third woman and the first Hispanic to serve on America’s highest court. Prior to her appointment, Sotomayor served on the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and on the US Appeals Court for the Second Circuit. Although raised in the Catholic faith, Sotomayor has constantly challenged Church teaching throughout her judicial career, ruling in favour of abortion and same-sex marriage.
Associate justice, US Supreme Court
Clarence Thomas, 75, has served as a justice on the US Supreme Court since his appointment by President George HW Bush in 1991. He is often described as the Supreme Court’s most conservative justice. After falling away from his faith, he was reconciled with the Catholic Church in the mid-1990s. During his tenure as a Supreme Court justice, he has constantly defended Church teaching on marriage and family. He wrote a dissenting opinion in the 2015 Obergefell v Hodges case which legalised same-sex marriage, and he wrote a concurring opinion in the 2022 Dobbs v Jackson case which overturned Roe v Wade. Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Supreme Court.
This article first appeared in the February 2024 issue of the Catholic Herald magazine. To subscribe to our multiple-award-winning magazine and have it delivered to your door anywhere in the world, go here.
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