Leonard Leo is an American legal activist who has done more than any other person to shift the United States Supreme Court to the political right. Pivotal in the selection and confirmation of all six conservative judges currently sitting on the Court, Leo could be seen as ground zero for the Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has jeopardised abortion rights in the US. 

The Supreme Court, whose role it is to ensure that legislation passed by Congress is constitutional, is increasingly becoming the final word in US political life. Therefore, the liberal-conservative balance of the nine judges sitting on it is, other than control of the White House, the most visceral and important litmus test for which side is winning America's so-called culture war, or as comedian Bill Maher recently put it, the “Cold Civil War”.

My guest for this conversation is Ken Vogel, who writes for the New York Times, and primarily investigates the influence of big money in his country’s politics. He is the author of a recent exposé of Leonard Leo, which you can read online.