Chuck Darwin<p>But in 2022, after the Cornell deal soured, new law school donations appeared on DonorsTrust’s filings. </p><p>These anonymous gifts went to schools without the hefty endowments of Cornell, Yale, Stanford, or NYU, or the conservative cachet of George Mason.</p><p>And like the earmark for Leo’s new center at Texas A&M, these new donations also had explicit instructions for how the cash must be used, instructions which seem to align closely with Leo’s priorities.</p><p>One such school on <a href="https://c.im/tags/DonorsTrust" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DonorsTrust</span></a>’s filing in 2022 was Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.</p><p>In November 2022, after Texas A&M soft-launched his<br>" Center on the Structural Constitution"<br>Leo took the stage at Catholic University’s law school alongside Patrick <a href="https://c.im/tags/Kelly" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Kelly</span></a>, “Supreme Knight” of the Knights of Columbus, the all-male Catholic fraternal order.</p><p>The occasion: to celebrate a new endowed professorship and the launch of a new research center, </p><p>both focused on the intersection of the U.S. Constitution and the Catholic intellectual tradition.</p><p>It was a rare public recognition of Leo’s fundraising prowess at the intersection of faith and the law. </p><p>A devout Catholic, Leo is a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a Catholic knighthood, and recipient of the top honor from Opus Dei’s Catholic Information Center.</p><p>At Catholic University’s celebration, Leo said its law school was <br>“becoming very impactful in the field of legal education.”</p><p>At first, money for the new center<br> — the Project on Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition<br> — came in without any mention of Leo. </p><p>In April 2021, Catholic University announcedit had received $4.25 million from an “anonymous trust” for a three-year program, <br>with the possibility of expanding “into a larger constitutional law center” after that, based on a joint assessment by the “supporting donor” and the school.</p><p>A year later, in May 2022, the school announced the creation of a new professorship to lead the new project. </p><p>Leo, in partnership with the Knights of Columbus, had “directed a gift” to endow the “Knights of Columbus Professor of Law and the Catholic Tradition,” </p><p>which was awarded to Kevin <a href="https://c.im/tags/Walsh" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Walsh</span></a>, a former Scalia clerk. </p><p>The total funding for Walsh’s professorship and the center came to $8.25 million, according to the announcement.</p><p>At the November 2022 event, the Knights of Columbus were credited with chipping in $1 million toward the professorship, <br>while an “anonymous donor” contributed $3 million that was “overseen” by Leo.</p><p>DonorsTrust’s year-end tax filings for 2022 show a $4.1 million contribution to Catholic University of America, <br>earmarked “for the Knights of Columbus Professor of Law.” </p><p>Catholic University and the Knights of Columbus did not respond to questions from The Intercept.</p><p>Since it launched, Catholic University’s new research center has hosted talks by two Supreme Court justices: <br>Samuel <a href="https://c.im/tags/Alito" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Alito</span></a> and Amy Coney <a href="https://c.im/tags/Barrett" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Barrett</span></a>, <br>two of six practicing Catholics currently on the high court. </p><p>Alito serves as the project’s honorary chair, and it has also attracted powerful conservative appellate judges as “visiting jurists.”</p><p>“Catholic tradition is not an add-on, not something extra,” said Walsh at the November 2022 event. </p><p>“It is the matrix within which we are to take hold of all reality, including the realities of law and justice.”</p><p><a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/05/29/leonard-leo-donor-law-schools/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">theintercept.com/2024/05/29/le</span><span class="invisible">onard-leo-donor-law-schools/</span></a></p>