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.
LATEST NEWS
Once Again, Tom Cotton Blocks Bill to Shield Journalists From Betraying Sources
Responding to the GOP senator's latest thwarting of the PRESS Act, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden vowed to "keep trying to get this bill across the finish line" before Republicans take control of the Senate next month.
Dec 10, 2024
Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas on Tuesday again blocked the passage of House-approved bipartisan legislation meant to shield journalists and telecommunications companies from being compelled to disclose sources and other information to federal authorities.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) brought the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act—which would prohibit the federal government from forcing journalists and telecom companies to disclose certain information, with exceptions for terroristic or violent threats—for a unanimous consent vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued Tuesday that passing the PRESS Act is "more important now than ever before when we've heard some in the previous administration talk about going after the press in one way or another," a reference to Republican President-elect Donald Trump's threats to jail journalists who refuse to reveal the sources of leaks. Trump, who has referred to the press as the "enemy of the people," repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to "kill this bill."
Cotton, who blocked a vote on the legislation in December 2022, again objected to the bill, a move that thwarted its speedy passage. The Republican called the legislation a "threat to national security" and "the biggest giveaway to the liberal press in American history."
The advocacy group Defending Rights and Dissent lamented that "Congress has abdicated their responsibility to take substantive steps to protect the constitutional right to a free press."
However, Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, noted ways in which Senate Democrats can still pass the PRESS Act before Republicans gain control of the upper chamber next month:
Senate Democrats had all year to move this bipartisan bill and now time is running out. Leader Schumer needs to get the PRESS Act into law—whether by attaching it to a year-end legislative package or bringing it to the floor on its own—even if it means shortening lawmakers' holiday break. Hopefully, today was a preview of more meaningful action to come.
Responding to Tuesday's setback, Wyden vowed, "I'm not taking my foot off the gas."
"I'll keep trying to get this bill across the finish line to write much-needed protections for journalists and their sources into black letter law," he added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Judges Block Kroger-Albertsons Merger in 'Win for Farmers, Workers, and Consumers'
"We applaud the FTC for securing one of the most significant victories in modern antitrust enforcement," said one advocate.
Dec 10, 2024
Antitrust advocates on Tuesday welcomed a pair of court rulings against the proposed merger of grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, which was challenged by Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and multiple state attorneys general.
"The FTC, along with our state partners, scored a major victory for the American people, successfully blocking Kroger's acquisition of Albertsons," said Henry Liu, director of the commission's Bureau of Competition, in a statement. "This historic win protects millions of Americans across the country from higher prices for essential groceries—from milk, to bread, to eggs—ultimately allowing consumers to keep more money in their pockets."
"This victory has a direct, tangible impact on the lives of millions of Americans who shop at Kroger or Albertsons-owned grocery stores for their everyday needs, whether that's a Fry's in Arizona, a Vons in Southern California, or a Jewel-Osco in Illinois," he added. "This is also a victory for thousands of hardworking union employees, protecting their hard-earned paychecks by ensuring Kroger and Albertsons continue to compete for workers through higher wages, better benefits, and improved working conditions."
While Liu was celebrating the preliminary injunction from Oregon-based U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson, later Tuesday, King County Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson released a ruling that blocked the merger in Washington state.
"We're standing up to mega-monopolies to keep prices down," said Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. "We went to court to block this illegal merger to protect Washingtonians' struggling with high grocery prices and the workers whose jobs were at stake. This is an important victory for affordability, worker protections, and the rule of law."
Advocacy groups applauding the decisions also pointed to the high cost of groceries and the anticipated impact of Kroger buying Albertsons—a $24.6 billion deal first announced in October 2022.
"American families are the big winner today, thanks to the Federal Trade Commission. The only people who stood to gain from the potential merger between Albertsons and Kroger were their wealthy executives and investors," asserted Liz Zelnick of Accountable.US. "The rest of us are letting out a huge sigh of relief knowing today's victory is good news for competitive prices and consumer access."
Describing the federal decision as "a victory for commonsense antitrust enforcement that puts people ahead of corporations," Food & Water Watch senior food policy analyst Rebecca Wolf also pointed out that "persistently high food prices are hitting Americans hard, and a Kroger-Albertsons mega-merger would have only made it worse."
"Already, a handful of huge corporations' stranglehold on our food system means that consumers are paying too much for too little choice in supermarkets, workers are earning too little, and farmers and ranchers cannot get fair prices for their crops and livestock," she noted. "Today's decision and strengthened FTC merger guidelines help change the calculus."
Like Wolf, Farm Action president and co-founder Angela Huffman similarly highlighted that "while industry consolidation increases prices for consumers and harms workers, grocery mergers also have a devastating impact on farmers and ranchers."
"When grocery stores consolidate, farmers have even fewer options for where to sell their products, and the chances of them receiving a fair price for their goods are diminished further," Huffman explained. "Today's ruling is a win for farmers, workers, and consumers alike."
Some advocates specifically praised Khan—a progressive FTC chair whom President-elect Donald Trumpplans to replace with Andrew Ferguson, a current commissioner who previously worked as chief counsel to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and as Republican counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Today's decision is a major win for shoppers and grocery workers. Families have been paying the price of unchecked corporate power in the food and grocery sector, and further consolidation would only worsen this crisis," declared Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens in a statement.
"FTC Chair Lina Khan's approach is the blueprint to deliver lower prices, higher wages, and an economy that works for everyone," Owens argued. "The rebirth of antitrust enforcement has protected consumers against the worst of corporate power in our economy and it would be wise to continue this approach."
Laurel Kilgour, research manager at the American Economic Liberties Project, called the federal ruling "a resounding victory for workers, consumers, independent retailers, and local communities nationwide—and a powerful validation of Chair Khan and the FTC's rigorous enforcement of the law."
"The FTC presented a strong case that Kroger and Albertsons fiercely compete head-to-head on price, quality, and service. The ruling is a capstone on the FTC's work over the past four years and includes favorable citations to the FTC's recent victories against the Tapestry-Capri, IQVIA-Propel, and Illumina-Grail mergers," Kilgour continued.
"The court also cites long-standing Supreme Court law which recognizes that Congress was also concerned with the impacts of mergers on smaller competitors," she added. "We applaud the FTC for securing one of the most significant victories in modern antitrust enforcement and for successfully protecting the public interest from harmful consolidation."
Despite the celebrations, the legal battle isn't necessarily over.
The Associated Pressreported that "the case may now move to the FTC, although Kroger and Albertsons have asked a different federal judge to block the in-house proceedings," and Colorado is also trying to halt the merger in state court.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump Taps Anti-Trans Lawyer Harmeet Dhillon for Key Civil Rights Post
"Dhillon has focused her career on diminishing civil rights, rather than enforcing or protecting them," argued one critic.
Dec 10, 2024
LGBTQ+ and voting rights defenders were among those who sounded the alarm Tuesday over Republican President-elect Donald Trump's selection of a San Francisco attorney known for fighting against transgender rights and for leading a right-wing lawyers' group that took part in Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election to oversee the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
On Monday, Trump announced his nomination of Harmeet Dhillon to head the key civil rights office, claiming on his Truth Social network that the former California Republican Party vice-chair "has stood up consistently to protect our cherished Civil Liberties, including taking on Big Tech for censoring our Free Speech, representing Christians who were prevented from praying together during COVID, and suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers."
"In her new role at the DOJ, Harmeet will be a tireless defender of our Constitutional Rights, and will enforce our Civil Rights and Election Laws FAIRLY and FIRMLY," Trump added.
However, prominent trans activist Erin Reed warned on her Substack that Dhillon's nomination—which requires Senate confirmation—"signals an alarming shift that could make life increasingly difficult for transgender people nationwide, including those who have sought refuge in blue states to escape anti-trans legislation."
Trump has picked Harmeet Dhillon as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. She has stated that it must be "made unsafe" for hospitals to provide trans care, and frequently shares Libs of TikTok posts. She intends to target trans people in blue states. Subscribe to support my journalism.
[image or embed]
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) December 10, 2024 at 8:14 AM
Reed continued:
Dhillon's most prominent work includes founding the Center for American Liberty, a legal organization that focuses heavily on anti-transgender cases in blue states. The organization's "featured cases" section highlights several lawsuits, such as Chloe Cole's case against Kaiser Permanente; a lawsuit challenging a Colorado school's use of a transgender student's preferred name; a case against a California school district seeking to implement policies that would forcibly out transgender students; and a lawsuit against Vermont for denying a foster care license to a family unwilling to comply with nondiscrimination policies regarding transgender youth.
Reed also highlighted Dhillon's attacks on state laws protecting transgender people, as well as her expression of "extreme anti-trans views" on social media—including calling gender-affirming healthcare for trans children "child abuse."
Last year, The Guardian's Jason Wilson reported that the Center for American Liberty made a six-figure payment to a public relations firm that represented Dhillion in both "her capacity as head of her own for-profit law firm and Republican activist."
Writing for the voting rights platform Democracy Docket, Matt Cohen on Tuesday accused Dhillon of being "one of the leading legal figures working to roll back voting rights across the country."
"In the past few years, Dhillon—or an attorney from her law firm—has been involved in more than a dozen different lawsuits in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. challenging voting rights laws, redistricting, election processes, or Trump's efforts to appear on the ballot in the 2024 election," Cohen noted.
As Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement Tuesday, "The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has the critical responsibility of enforcing our nation's federal civil rights laws and ensuring equal justice under the law on behalf of all of our communities."
"That means investigating police departments that have a pattern of police abuse, protecting the right to vote, and ensuring schools don't discriminate against children based on who they are," Wiley noted. "The nomination of Harmeet Dhillon to lead this critical civil rights office is yet another clear sign that this administration seeks to advance ideological viewpoints over the rights and protections that protect every person in this country."
"Dhillon has focused her career on diminishing civil rights, rather than enforcing or protecting them," she asserted. "Rather than fighting to expand voting access, she has worked to restrict it."
A staunch Trump loyalist, Dhillon has also embraced conspiracy theories including the former president's "Big Lie" that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and has accused Democrats of "conspiring to commit the biggest election interference fraud in world history."
She was co-chair of the Republican National Lawyers Association when it launched Lawyers for Trump, a group that urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene on behalf of the former president after he lost the 2020 election.
Cohen also highlighted Dhillon's ties to right-wing legal activist and Federalist Society co-chair Leonard Leo, described by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) as a "lawless con man and crook" for his refusal to comply with a Senate subpoena and his organization of lavish gifts to conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices.
"We need a leader at the Civil Rights Division who understands that civil rights protections are not partisan or political positions open to the ideological whims of those who seek to elevate a single religion or to protect political allies or particular groups over others," Wiley stressed. "We need a leader who will vigorously enforce our civil rights laws and work to protect the rights of all of our communities—including in voting, education, employment, housing, and public accommodations—without fear or favor."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular