By Rick Manning

I’ve written before about how terrible the lion’s share of the legal community is toward conservatives and how enmeshed they are with the overall left-wing attempt to tear down anything associated with President Trump or with meaningful conservative policy wins of any kind, for that matter. When these lawyers aren’t working hand-in-hand with activists to pursue President Trump over January 6, they are busy giving massive political donations to Democrats, or trying to stop conservatives in the courtroom. 

Now we have concrete evidence for just how slanted the nation’s fancy, Richie-Rich law firms truly are. A professor at Notre Dame Law took the time to tally up the U.S. Supreme Court briefs filed pro bono by the biggest law firms in America. In case you aren’t used to the high-brow language these lawyers throw around, “pro bono” means “for free,” as in, “on the house.” This contribution of time and effort from these “elite” firms is worth tens of thousands of dollars, or more. It's a great deal if you can get it. 

When the law professor, Derek Muller, looked under the hood, what do you think he found about the generosity of these hoity-toity law firms? I do not think you will be shocked to learn that he found that the law firms filed hundreds upon hundreds more briefs for liberal groups than conservatives. The punchline: the law firms sided with liberals twice as often as conservatives. 

Looking under the hood should make conservatives' blood boil as it affirms an increasingly undeniable belief that the establishment is at war with our values. 

In the biggest cases, the ones that delivered conservative wins on issues like guns and abortion, the bias was jaw-dropping. Fancy lawyers donated their time to the liberal positions in 95% of cases. That represents millions of dollars in free support for the liberal positions in just these handful of high-profile cases.   

It is not all bad, according to the professor. There are a handful of firms out there where conservatives can at least scratch out a majority for their positions. But that is the exception, not the rule. And there is no firm that is putting 100% of their work toward conservatives, while the liberals can count on firms siding with their side 89%, 94%, and even 100% of the time.   

Some of this is not that surprising. One of the firms at the top of the professor’s liberal list—O’Melveny & Myers, which puts 89% of its briefs to liberal causes according to the new study—is already well-known as the home of Michael Dreeben, who has decided to deputize himself over to Jack Smith in the D.C. witch hunt against President Trump. Another firm at top of the professor’s list, Perkins Coie, with over 80% of its briefs supporting liberal positions, have long been the Democratic Party’s lawyers. And WilmerHale, also near the top of the list with over 80% support for liberals, is in the news for representing Harvard and Penn’s presidents in their disastrous and widely lambasted Congressional hearings over left-wing antisemitism on college campuses.   

But seeing the data laid out in full by Professor Muller, with the widespread bias in these law firms made plain for all, is a fresh reminder of why we should be backing the lawyers we have. 

Be grateful that we have firms like Consovoy McCarthy, a law firm full of fancy resumes that helped take down affirmative action in college admissions and has represented President Trump at the Supreme Court.  And let’s count our blessings that President Trump can rely on the lawyers at James Otis Law, who beat back the combined efforts of Jack Smith and O’Melveny & Myers last month at the Supreme Court.   

The survival of the conservative movement hinges more and more on these small bands of outsiders who can fight the self-anointed legal left elitists on their own turf and win, again and again. Hence, we should back these lawyers at every turn. 

But along the way, never forget that the rich lawyers of America, whether on billboards along the highway or sitting in fancy towers in New York City, are putting 99% of their money against us, and donating 95% of their time to stop our biggest courtroom wins.   

Don’t ever let them pretend otherwise. And do not ever let them forget when we win the next election and President Trump is back in the White House.  

It is high time we pull the gloves off and stop pretending that there is any balance in this upper crust world of rich, fancy lawyers. These are dyed-in-the-wool partisans, and we should keep the pressure on them. We are already seeing our state attorneys general take action to weed out liberal advocacy law firms from converting state government contracts into left-wing advocacy. This new report out of Notre Dame Law should fuel that fire and help us keep the mouthpieces of those who engage in lawfare to destroy the core principles underpinning America in plain sight. 

I, for one, am keeping score. 

Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government. 

To view online: https://townhall.com/columnists/rickmanning/2024/01/19/notre-dame-law-school-study-elite-law-firms-overwhelmingly-aid-the-left-in-court-n2633846

 

U.S. Rep. Spartz’ Debt Commission Act will address debt death spiral

Jan. 17, 2024, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in support of U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz’ (R-Ind.) Debt Commission Act of 2024:

“America is in a debt death spiral, with OMB projecting the national debt to rise to $50 trillion by 2033, and it is unclear whether Congress will ever have the political will to do something about it. One thing is clear, continued reliance on debt to subsidize the social safety net ensures that that net will collapse, hurting those who are most dependent on it including seniors.

“The Social Security and Medicare trust funds are reporting they are rapidly approaching insolvency, and today, mandatory spending including interest payments account for 73 percent of all federal spending, and at $4.6 trillion, accounts for 100 percent of all revenue taken by the federal government from all sources. This means if Congress eliminated all defense spending, all foreign aid, and every program that Congress votes on, firing every employee, the federal government would still run a deficit.

“And it gets worse. In fact, the percent of mandatory spending plus interest is projected to rise to 78 percent of all spending by 2033, accounting for 105 percent of all revenue.

“Another example of the debt spiral is the dramatic increase in Medicaid recipients resulting from the shift in eligibility for benefits from 200 to 300 percent of the poverty level in 43 states from Obamacare, resulting in approximately $100 billion of additional spending according to the Congressional Budget Office.

“There are no easy answers to the debt abyss we are trapped in. Every dollar spent has a constituency. Every dollar taxed has a constituency. While Congress should be able to have an honest discussion on alternatives, politics prevents it, and with intergovernmental holdings of debt set to begin declining in 2028 as entitlements reach the tipping point, U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz’ Debt Commission Act of 2024 will at least jump start a robust policy discussion that is long overdue.”

To view online: https://getliberty.org/2024/01/u-s-rep-spartz-debt-commission-act-will-address-debt-death-spiral/