“A POLITICO review indicates most conservative briefs in high-profile cases have links to a small cadre of activists aligned with Leonard Leo.”
- Politico, 12/3/23
A new Politico investigation contained some remarkable revelations about the right-wing dark money operation that is out to capture the Court and how it all ties back to court fixer Leonard Leo and his right-wing billionaires.
This story was about amicus briefs, or “friend of the court” briefs. Just about anyone can file an amicus brief in a case, and these briefs offer outside opinions on how the justices should rule. Think of it like judicial lobbying. For years, I’ve been shining a light on the explosion in dark money amicus briefs, and how the far-right justices are amenable to the billionaires’ arguments served up in these briefs. I’ve spoken about it, written about it; even filed amicus briefs of my own exposing the scheme. So this investigation was very welcome.
Politico’s investigation revealed that in Roe v. Wade, a conservative professor (not a historian, but a confidant of Leo) filed an amicus brief featuring some made up history, which Justice Alito went on to cite as part of his justification for taking away a constitutional right from women. Women’s lives have been forever changed, and one plank of the justification was a falsehood.
This is not only happening on abortion. As I’ve warned, Leo and his right-wing network were connected to a huge number of amicus briefs in many of the Court’s highest-profile rulings in recent years.
Politico says it well: “Given the opaque nature of Leo’s network, it’s difficult to tally up just how much money has been spent on conservative legal advocacy linked to him.” But what they did discover is that just between two of the leading groups in Leo’s network, they’ve spent over 21 million dollars lobbying the Court for right-wing rulings.
This investigation shows just how much Leo and his billionaire network have been bending this Court to their will. We need to protect the Court from nefarious outside influence by requiring more transparency around amicus briefs — and I have a bill to do just that.
Thank you for standing with me in this fight,
Sheldon Whitehouse
