June, 27 2024, 12:32pm EDT
RDP Analysis Finds 13 Court Whisperer-Backed Groups Urged SCOTUS To Gut Securities Law Enforcement
The Supreme Court has issued a 6-3 ruling in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy kneecapping the ability of the SEC and other federal agencies to crack down on corporate wrongdoing.
This case starts with the SEC fining George Jarkesy, a conservative talk-radio host and hedge fund manager, $300,000 for securities fraud—he had brazenly lied to investors about the value of his hedge fund. But Jarkesy challenged the decision on the basis that the process by which he was fined—an administrative proceeding adjudicated by an administrative law judge (ALJ)—was unconstitutional.
In 2022, the far-right Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of Jarkesy, ruling that both SEC ALJs and perhaps all SEC adjudications of securities fraud are unconstitutional.
In the words of journalist Mark Joseph Stern, the Supreme Court’s decision today is a “massive blow to the federal government’s ability to enforce regulations against lawbreakers.” The decision is a boon for white collar criminals.
Some of the organizations that supported the weakening of the SEC have direct ties to the powerful friends and benefactors of the Court. The very same people who are flying Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to vacation destinations on private jets are closely tied to organizations that are urging the Court through amicus briefs to rule in a manner favorable to corporate wrongdoers.
An RDP review of amicus briefs in the case finds at least 13 amicus filers with ties to court-whisperers and judicial gift givers like Leonard Leo, Charles Koch, Paul Singer, Harlan Crow, and wealthy elites in the Horatio Alger Association in which Clarence Thomas is a key member.
- COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a right-wing think tank and longtime climate change denial advocate that opposes a host of federal labor, consumer, health, and environmental protections. It was founded in 1984 by former Koch collaborator Fred Smith.
- CHARLES KOCH: Koch’s philanthropic arms jointly gave over $640,000 to CEI between 1997 and 2015. CEI is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.
- LEONARD LEO: Leonard Leo’s 85 Fund gave CEI $250,000 in 2020.
- AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY: Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a right-wing group whose top priorities include defunding public education, opposing environmental and human health protections, separating families by repealing DACA, and promoting the interests of the wealthy.
- KOCH: AFP is the “main political arm” of the Koch network. Koch Industries and the Koch nonprofits have given AFP and its related arms tens of millions of dollars, including $20 million from Koch Industries to AFP’s super PAC in the 2022 election cycle alone. AFP is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.
- CATO INSTITUTE: The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank that has long advocated for defunding social services like Social Security and public schools and eliminating key environmental, labor, and anti-discrimination protections.
- KOCH: The Cato Institute was co-founded by Charles Koch in 1977 under the original corporate name of the “Charles Koch Foundation, Inc.” Koch Industries and Koch nonprofits have given Cato tens of millions of dollars over the past 45 years. The Cato Institute is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.
- NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE: The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) is a conservative litigation group that champions a wide array of right-wing causes, from overturning Chevron deference to attacking gun safety laws. NCLA has supported Elon Musk’s attacks on the NLRB and has previously defended Federalist publisher Ben Domenech and mega-corporation Oracle in cases against the NLRB and Department of Labor, respectively.
- KOCH: The Charles Koch Foundation provided $1 million of the $1.6 million NCLA raised in 2017, its first year of operation, giving a total of over $3 million from 2017 to 2021. The Charles Koch Institute gave NCLA an additional $2 million in 2020 and 2021. The New Civil Liberties Alliance is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network. NCLA’s president Mark Chenoweth previously served as in-house counsel for Koch Industries.
- LEO: Leonard Leo’s 85 fund gave NCLA $1 million in 2020.
- CLAREMONT INSTITUTE’S CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL JURISPRUDENCE: The Claremont Institute is an “anti-democracy think tank” that defended and supported Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
- JOHN EASTMAN: Claremont’s litigation arm, the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, is led by “coup memo” author and Trump co-conspirator John Eastman. Eastman is a former law clerk to Justice Thomas and exchanged emails with Ginni Thomas ahead of the January 6th attack on the Capitol. In October 2023, Thomas recused from the Eastman Jan. 6 case, though he did not disclose the reason for recusal.
- US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: The Chamber is the largest corporate lobbying group in the country, representing predatory Wall Street banks and major fossil fuel companies, as well as some corporate criminals. The Chamber spends millions annually on federal lobbying and dark money political contributions to promote an anti-worker, anti-consumer, and anti-climate deregulatory agenda.
- HORATIO ALGER ASSOCIATION: Chamber advisor (and former president) Thomas Donohue and Chamber board member Frank VanderSloot are both inductees of the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive circle of wealthy business elites that has lavished Clarence Thomas with luxury gifts and received unprecedented access to the Supreme Court building.
- KOCH: Charles Koch’s foundation has given large amounts of money to bankroll the Chamber’s work, including a 2021 grant of $817,500 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and a 2022 grant of $1.65 million to fund the Chamber’s JobSIDE initiative.
- INDEPENDENT WOMEN’S LAW CENTER: The Independent Women’s Law Center is the litigation arm of the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), a right-wing group that originated as “Women for Judge Thomas.”
- LEO: Between 2020 and 2021, Leonard Leo’s 85 Fund gave IWF $660,000. Leo’s Freedom and Opportunity Fund gave IWF’s advocacy arm $4 million in 2016-2017 during the fight to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s SCOTUS seat.
- KOCH: Billionaire Charles Koch is a major funder of the Independent Women’s Forum. In 2019, the Charles Koch Foundation gave $100,000 to the Independent Women’s Forum. Between 2020 and 2021, the Charles Koch Institute gave $303,000 to the Independent Women’s Forum. IWF is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy network.
- LIBERTY JUSTICE CENTER: The Liberty Justice Center (LJC) is the litigation arm of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, which has supported legal assaults on collective bargaining, gun safety measures, and public school funding.
- HORATIO ALGER ASSOCIATION: The LJC received $1 million in 2021 from the Marcus Foundation, a charitable giving nonprofit run by Home Depot co-founder and Republican megadonor Bernard Marcus. Marcus is also a 1993 inductee into the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive circle of wealthy business elites that has lavished Clarence Thomas with luxury gifts and received unprecedented access to the Supreme Court building.
- KOCH: LJC is an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.
- ENERGY TRANSFER LP: Energy Transfer is one of the 50 largest corporations in America. It owns and operates a variety of industrial assets, including more than 125,000 miles of pipeline. The company has a long history of leaks from its pipelines that have spoiled water and damaged the environment.
- HORATIO ALGER ASSOCIATION: Kelcy Warren, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Energy Transfer, is a member of the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive circle of wealthy business elites that has lavished Clarence Thomas with luxury gifts and received unprecedented access to the Supreme Court building. In an association booklet published online, Warren and Clarence Thomas can be seen standing next to each other during Warren’s induction ceremony.
- INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: The Institute for Justice (IJ) is a libertarian litigation group that has opposed affirmative action and fought for initiatives that funnel public money to private schools, including religious private schools. IJ’s founder, Clint Bolick, now sits on the Arizona Supreme Court and recently had a hand in restoring the state’s Civil War-era abortion ban.
- HARLAN CROW: The Trammell and Margaret Crow Foundation, which Harlan Crow is President and Director of, gave IJ $225,000 between 2019 and 2021.
One brief was filed jointly by a host of groups, including these four with ties to court-whisperers:
- ADVANCING AMERICAN FREEDOM: Advancing American Freedom (AAF) is a conservative advocacy group founded in April 2021 by former Vice President Mike Pence. AAF staunchly opposes reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, aims to defund public education, denies climate science, and opposes rail safety regulations. AAF has filed a petitioner-side amicus brief in both Loper Bright and Relentless.
- LEO: Leonard Leo’s Concord Fund contributed more than $1.5 million to Advancing American Freedom between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022.
- MANHATTAN INSTITUTE: The Manhattan Institute is a right-wing think tank that has defended trickle-down economics, spread climate denial propaganda at the behest of the fossil fuel industry, and argued for the privatization of social services.
- PAUL SINGER: Multi-billionaire Paul Singer, a benefactor of Justice Alito, is the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Manhattan Institute. He contributed $8,760,000 to the Manhattan Institute between 2011 and 2022, funding $1,635,000 in 2022 alone.
- KOCH: The Manhattan Institute received $3,182,717 from Koch organizations and foundations between 1997 and 2017. The Manhattan Institute is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.
- LEO: Leonard Leo’s 85 Fund gave the Manhattan institute $450,000 in 2022.
- CROW: Kathy Crow, wife of real estate mogul Harlan Crow, is a current Trustee of the Manhattan Institute.
- AMERICANS FOR LIMITED GOVERNMENT: Americans for Limited Government (ALG) is an ultraconservative group that supported the fake elector plot.
- LEO: Leonard Leo’s Concord Fund gave ALG $1,685,000 between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022.
- ALG touts on its website an endorsement from Ginni Thomas: “If America had an official fire department to help preserve our liberties, Rick Manning and Americans for Limited Government could be its Captain.”
Others who filed briefs arguing that the SEC should be kneecapped include:
- MARK CUBAN AND ELON MUSK: Surprise, surprise. More billionaires who want to weaken our top financial regulator. Who could have guessed it?
- MORRIS & DICKSON: Drugmaker Morris & Dickson is angry that an ALJ at the DEA recommended in 2019 that the company’s license be revoked for its substantial role in the opioid crisis. The recommendation was only implemented four years later (prompting some questions about the DEA’s revolving door) and has already been reversed. Still, the company seems to be taking its anger out on ALJs everywhere.
- TOTALENERGIES GAS & POWER: This gas company is currently facing an enforcement action from FERC for market manipulation, and it would prefer not to have to face a FERC ALJ. The SEC also fined the company nearly $400 million in 2013 for bribing a government official in Iran in order to secure business in the country! No surprise this corrupt company would want weaker administrative agencies.
- DAVID JULIAN: An ALJ recommended in December 2022 that former Chief Auditor of Wells Fargo David Julian be made to pay $7 million and banned from banking for life for his culpability in the fake-accounts scandal. As he explains in his amicus brief, he is not too happy about this.
The Revolving Door Project (RDP) scrutinizes executive branch appointees to ensure they use their office to serve the broad public interest, rather than to entrench corporate power or seek personal advancement.
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A Thursday report by the economic justice group Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) emphasized that the impending child hunger crisis comes four months after Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which slashed food assistance by shifting some of the cost of SNAP to the states from the federal government, expanding work requirements, and ending adjustments to benefits to keep pace with food inflation.
Meanwhile, the law is projected to increase the incomes of the wealthiest 20% of US households by 3.7% while reducing the incomes of the poorest 20% of Americans by an average of 3.8%.
Now, said ATF, "they're gonna let hard-working Americans go hungry so billionaires can get richer."
At Time on Thursday, Stephanie Land, author of Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education, wrote that "the cruelty is the point" of the Trump administration's refusal to ensure the 61-year-old program, established by Democratic former President Lyndon B. Johnson, doesn't lapse for the first time in its history.
"Once, when we lost most of our food stamp benefit, I mentally catalogued every can and box of food in the cupboards, and how long the milk we had would last," wrote Land. "They’d kicked me, the mother of a recently-turned 6-year-old, off of food stamps because I didn’t meet the work requirement of 20 hours a week. I hadn’t known that my daughter’s age had qualified me to not have to meet that requirement, and without warning, the funds I carefully budgeted for food were gone."
"It didn’t matter that I was a full-time student and worked 10-15 hours a week," she continued. "This letter from my local government office said it wasn’t sufficient to meet their stamp of approval. In their opinion, I wasn’t working enough to deserve to eat. My value, my dignity as a human being, was completely dependent on my ability to work, as if nothing else about me awarded me the ability to feel satiated by food."
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On Thursday, the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) expressed hope that the president's recent statement saying the White House will ensure people obtain their benefits will "trigger the administration to use its authority and precedent to prevent disruptions in food assistance."
"The issue at hand is not political. It is about ensuring that parents can put food on the table, older adults on fixed incomes can meet their nutritional needs, and children continue to receive the meals they rely on. SNAP is one of the most effective tools for reducing hunger and supporting local economies," said the group.
"Swift and transparent action is needed," FRAC added, "to restore stability, maintain public confidence, and ensure that our state partners, local economies and grocers, and the millions of children, older adults, people with disabilities, and veterans who participate in SNAP are not left bearing the consequences of federal inaction."
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