Right-wing judicial activist Leonard Leo refusing to comply with Senate ethics subpoena

12 April 2024

Because of his work with the Federalist Society — first as vice president, now as co-chairman of their board of directors — attorney Leonard Leo has played a major role in pushing the United States' federal and state courts to the far right. Leo has championed many of the positions taken by the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years, from overturning abortion as a national right in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to outlawing the use of affirmative action in college admissions in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina.

On Thursday, April 11, Senate Democrats issued a subpoena to Leo as part of an investigation of ethics-related controversies at the High Court. But Leo, according to CNN, has vowed not to comply with it.

CNN reporters John Fritze and Devan Cole explain, "Calling the subpoena 'unlawful' and 'politically motivated,' Leo said, in a statement to CNN, that he was 'not capitulating' to what he described as the 'left's dark money effort to silence and cancel political opposition."

Leo's attorney David Rivkin, according to Fritze and Cole, sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) declaring that he is "not complying" with an "unlawful and politically motivated subpoena."

In November 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to authorize subpoenas for Leo and billionaire Republican megadonor Harlan Crow — who, according to a series of damning reports in ProPublica, treated U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to luxury vacations. ProPublica also reported that billionaire Paul Singer treated Justice Samuel Alito to a fishing trip in Alaska.

In response to ProPublica's reporting, progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) called for Thomas to be impeached from the Supreme Court on the grounds that he had committed egregious ethics violations.

Fritze and Cole note, "If Leo ultimately does not comply, Democrats could be forced to hold a vote and find 60 votes in the split chamber to enforce it."

The Federalist Society, founded in 1982, promoted all of the GOP-appointed justices who are now on the U.S. Supreme Court, including the three appointed by former President Donald Trump.

Although Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the United States' last eight presidential elections, only one-third of the justices are Democratic appointees.

Read CNN's full report at this link.

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