Leonard Leo engineered a take over of the Supreme Court. His success is already reaping huge benefits for his patrons. His efforts did not go unrewarded. In 2022, Mr. Leo received the single greatest political gift in American History, 1.6 Billion with a B, from a secretive Chicago Oligarch. Heidi Przybla has a new article “Dark Money and Special Deals…” on Politico that is well worth a read. In it she documents how tax exempt payments to the non profit Federalist Society were being funneled into a for profit operation also under Leo’s control. At the same time, Leo’s personal lifestyle is becoming ever more lavish. A telling example, Leo hired Trumps wine steward to manage his cellar.
Leo bought 2 mansions in Maine, where he feted Susan Collins during the Kavanaugh hearings. He paid off his mortgage in Virginia right after Justice Kennedy retired. The details paint a disturbing picture of Supreme Court ethics (or lack thereof.) Leo’s for profit venture will clearly benefit from the apparent favors he is owed for undermining our faith in American Justice. The court has been tailor made to reject voting rights, gun control, environmental protections, or any social Justice reforms enacted in the last half centuries.
All of us are supposed to accept this outcome despite the obvious corruption at play. If you don’t like a law, you can now hired the guy who put the majority of Justices on the bench. It is sadly predictable that all that money would end up enriching unaccountable political operatives.