Without Leonard Leo, GOP Agenda Would Be 'Toast'

[turbinetree]

Conservative activist Leonard Leo helped elect a judge in Wisconsin. Without him, the GOP feared their agenda would be “toast,” according to an email.

By ProPublica — October 23, 2023
by Andrea Bernstein and Andy Kroll

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

Series: Friends of the Court:SCOTUS Justices’ Beneficial Relationships With Billionaire Donors

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decades long friendship with real estate tycoon Harlan Crow and Samuel Alito’s luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer have raised questions about influence and ethics at the nation's highest court.

In July 2015, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court shielded Gov. Scott Walker, then a rising Republican star with aspirations to the presidency, from a criminal investigation.

The court’s conservative majority halted the probe into what prosecutors suspected were campaign finance violations. One of the deciding votes was cast by Justice David Prosser, a conservative who had won reelection a few years earlier in a heavily contested race. During the race, a state GOP operative said if their party lost Prosser, “The Walker agenda is toast,” according to an email included in a trove of documents the Guardian surfaced. Another vote for Walker came from Michael Gableman, a justice who had also waged a contentious campaign for his Wisconsin Supreme Court seat.

The high court, determining the prosecutors had overreached, ordered the investigation’s documents destroyed. But not before the Guardian got its hands on a copy. And buried in the 1,500 pages was a reference to a key figure in propelling both Prosser and Gableman to victory: the co-chair of the right-leaning legal group the Federalist Society, organizer of dark money groups and conservative strategist Leonard Leo.

https://crooksandliars.com/2023/10/without-leonard-leo-gop-agenda-would-be

-snip-

In a written statement, Leo said state courts “are more independent and impartial today than they were when trial lawyers and unions dominated state judicial races without any counter.”

Hey Leo , have you ever heard or read what 50+1 means when unions have votes on wages, health care and such.......that's called majority rule....not 49+1 or 48+ 1 ...... we don't like fascists, authoritarian oligarchy neophytes, that's apparently what the Federalist Society Judicial Crisis Network ( Concord Fund ) is all about, packing courts to enable one person rule and remove the 50+1 rule.... ....

[czarjak]

1. Whoever has the most money wins. Rule #1.

It's rigged folks. Just like The Donald said.

[mahina]

2. Kick and Recd - all 3 epsodes should be required listening

Last edited Tue Oct 24, 2023, 11:10 AM - Edit history (1)

Well done, Pro Publica and On The Media. Thank you so much for posting.

[mahina]

3. Bookmarked