Biden Debuts Radical Scheme Designed To Help Democrats Pack The Supreme Court
Biden used a publication known for smearing Republican-nominated justices to further Democrats' SCOTUS delegitimization campaign.Biden used a publication known for smearing Republican-nominated justices to further Democrats' SCOTUS delegitimization campaign.Democrats Illegally Vote To Advance SCOTUS Attack And Subpoena Private Citizens
Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin vowed to authorize the Crow and Leo subpoenas no matter how long it took.Conservative activist, a private citizen, hits back at Dem senators for alleged unconstitutional demands
Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo spanked two Democratic senators on Tuesday for demanding information related to some of his personal relationships.
What is the background?
Two weeks ago, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) sent Leo a letter requesting itemized lists of:
- "[A]ll gifts, payments, and items of value exceeding $415 provided" that he provided to any Supreme Court justice or their family member,
- "[A]ll transportation or lodging provided" that he provided to any Supreme Court justice or their family member, and
- "[O]f any other instance in which you have lodged or traveled with any Justice of the Supreme Court or a member of the Justice’s family."
They also demanded to know about a 2008 fishing trip to Alaska that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito attended. Underneath the letter were suggestions that Alito is guilty of ethics violations because he did not disclose the trip.
Alito has fiercely defended himself from those allegations.
How did Leo respond?
Responding through his lawyer, David B. Rivkin Jr., Leo essentially told Durbin and Whitehouse to pound sand.
"While we respect the Committee's oversight role, after reviewing your July 11 Letter, the nature of this investigation, and the circumstances surrounding your interest in Mr. Leo, we believe that your inquiry exceeds the limits placed by the Constitution on the Committee's investigative authority," Rivkin wrote in response on Tuesday.
Specifically, Rivkin asserted that Durbin and Whitehouse are infringing on Leo's First and Fifth Amendment rights.
"By selectively targeting Mr. Leo for investigation on a politically charged basis, while ignoring other potential sources of information on the asserted topic of interest who are similarly situated to Mr. Leo but have different political views that are more consistent with those of the Committee majority, your inquiry appears to be political retaliation against a private citizen in violation of the First Amendment," Rivkin explained.
"For similar reasons, your inquiry cannot be reconciled with the Equal Protection component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment," he added.
Rivkin went on to explain the "one-sided" nature of Durbin and Whitehouse's inquiry, noting they are concerned only with alleged ethical violations committed by justices appointed by Republican presidents. Allegations against Democrat-appointed justices, on the other hand, are "ignored," he argued.
What did Durbin and Whitehouse say?
The pair of senators maintained their suggestive allegations that Leo is connected to unethical behavior by Supreme Court justices.
They said, according to The Hill:
Mr. Leo turns up over and over again across a spectrum of questionable behavior: he developed the infamous Federalist Society list of Trump nominees; he was impresario of the Judicial Crisis Network’s anonymously funded ads; he’s in Harlan Crow’s painting of Justice Thomas’s holiday; he accompanied Justice Alito on his billionaire-funded Alaskan fishing adventure; he directed payments to Justice Thomas’ wife, and more.
"The American people are only seeing the tip of a very big iceberg, and the Judiciary Committee has the responsibility to look into it," they added.
To be sure, neither senator has offered proof of any wrongdoing committed by any Supreme Court justice. And, to Rivkin's point, they've said nothing about the court's left-leaning justices.
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CNN drops special report about Clarence Thomas, Gov. DeSantis: They once had a 'big bear hug'
CNN broke a bombshell story on Tuesday: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) once hugged Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Network anchor Kate Bolduan promised viewers "new details about the close relationship" between DeSantis and Thomas and their alleged mutual friend, conservative legal activist Leonard Leo.
In reality, DeSantis and Thomas' friendship is old news.
The report centered on a Federalist Society event in Florida three years ago. At that event, DeSantis praised Thomas as "our greatest living justice." According to Bolduan, the three men — DeSantis, Thomas, and Leo — shared dinner after that event. CNN then showed video of DeSantis and Thomas hugging one another.
\u201cCNN has a bombshell report on Ron DeSantis and his "close relationship" with Justice Clarence Thomas:\n\nIn 2020, Justice Thomas spoke at the Florida Federalist Society. There, DeSantis called Thomas the "greatest living justice."\n\nAfter the event, they went out to dinner.\u201d— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1686062430
"Didn't you like that big bear hug at the end there?" interjected CNN Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic.
It turned out the report was really a pretext to bash Leo, who once advised Donald Trump on which judges he should consider for the Supreme Court.
"Ron DeSantis, now as a candidate, is taking a page from the Donald Trump playbook and running on the Supreme Court. And he's doing it in part by holding up Clarence Thomas as a model," Biskupic said.
"Interestingly, part of the playbook that Trump had involved using Leonard Leo to advise him on his choices for the Supreme Court. And he effectively sought out three very conservative, anti-abortion justices," Biskupic continued. "And Leonard Leo has also advised Ron DeSantis in his role as governor of Florida and he's chosen his nominees for the Florida Supreme Court."
Unsurprisingly, Biskupic went on to bash "Thomas's approach to the law" — which read more like a progressive's caricature of conservative values.
"Leonard Leo has not said who he's going to support in the sprawling primary... but he has long advised Gov DeSantis," she said. "And Clarence Thomas' approach to the law — anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion, anti-press — mirrors what Ron DeSantis has done in the state down in Florida."
The premise of CNN's story, then, is this: Conservatives make friends with other conservatives. Truly earth-shattering reporting.
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Another Day, Another Shoddy Politico Hit Piece Aimed At The Conservative Legal Movement
The real crime here is that conservatives are raising money.BlackRock in crosshairs as conservative activists take aim at 'woke capitalism,' ESG investing
Conservative groups are launching a campaign aimed at stopping ESG's 'woke capitalism' from decimating investors' retirement savings, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, the first to exceed $10 trillion, is directly in the groups' crosshairs.
"The ESG movement is polluting our culture and assaulting the dignity and worth of people," Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo told WSJ. "Our enterprise stands with a growing group of Americans who are fighting to crush leftist dominance in this arena."
ESG is an acronym for environmental, social, and governance investing. Investopedia's nutshell definition of ESG investing is "a set of standards for a company's behavior used by socially conscious investors to screen potential investments." In other words, ESG investments take a company's climate change stance and diversity-related activities into account as financial factors.
A conservative nonprofit called Marble Freedom Trust, overseen by Leo, has taken the lead in the initiative to disentangle ESG from actual financial factors asset managers like BlackRock and Vanguard consider when investing on consumers' behalf. So far, the group has put more than $10 million, mostly with Consumers' Research, into its anti-ESG efforts, the WSJ reports.
Marble Freedom Trust has provided grants to groups that are pushing back on the questionable, potentially risky investment strategy. Other groups receiving grants include the Heritage Foundation, the State Financial Officers Foundation, and the American Accountability Foundation, the WSJ says.
Their approach to ousting ESG includes distributing model legislation to state capitals and creating ads explaining the risks in supporting ESG principles.
Consumers' Research is the organization that launched viral ads in 2021 targeting targeting "Woka-Cola" and in 2022 targeting American Airlines for trying to "appease woke politicians to distract from its failures as a company."
Consumers' Research blasted BlackRock last year in a blistering, 30-second spot blaming it for soaring gas prices and outrageous housing prices. In the ad, the organization placed responsibility squarely in the lap of Larry Fink, BlackRock's CEO.
Further, group pointed out that BlackRock's former ESG head, Brian Deese, had become President Biden's economic adviser. Deese left his position on Biden's National Economic Council Team last week.
\u201cToday is my last day at @briandeeseNEC.\n\nI leave the White House humbled by what we have been able to accomplish over the last two years, and confident in the team moving forward. Time to finish the job! \n\nStarting tomorrow, you can find me at @BrianCDeese.\u201d— Brian Deese (@Brian Deese) 1676983034
BlackRock has reportedly spent $3.5 million in lobbying last year, meeting with senators and representatives about ESG, the WSJ says.
Marble Freedom Trust, the anti-ESG group with Leo at the helm, received $1.6 billion to fund its efforts, which also include limiting abortion and opposing critical race theory, according to the WSJ.
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