Last month I began a two part series that began with "ALEC, the Koch Led CABAL & "The Amicus Project" - Fed Court Interference." The first segment dealt with identifying and exposing ALEC's Koch funded cabal interfering with our judicial processes by filing hundreds of "Amicus Briefs" to state and federal courts in pending cases. These were cases involving issues under the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 14th Amendments and other rights - and submitted by numerous cabal members, such as ALEC, Heritage, Heartland, Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Businesses, CATO, Mackinac, etc.
When they file these briefs it is not sufficient to simply join together and file one comprehensive "brief" or argument in support of whatever position the cabal's side is advocating for. No, they file separate briefs making it appear that there is a groundswell of support on the cabal's side of an issue. I described this as the "front door" access the cabal uses in their attempts to influence outcomes in judicial cases involving legislative and related pursuits of the cabal.
This diary will introduce everyone to the cabal's "back door" access to and influence upon state and federal judges through seminars and conferences provided by the cabal members...to in effect "program" judges to rule favorably in key cases. These seminars are used to "educate" our judiciary as to the positions held by corporations and other matters important to businesses and their wealthy owners. These seminars are provided to judges prior to important case reviews...the amicus briefs are "reminders" to the judges of what they "learned" through these seminars that were provided along with luxury vacations paid for by many corporations that may eventually wind up as a party before one or more of these judges.
The seminars take place at truly plush resorts (many of them the same used by ALEC for their annual meetings involving legislators) during all expense trips provided to the judges by a number of Conservative funded organizations; the Foundation for Research on Economics and Environment (FREE Foundation), George Mason University's Law and Economics Center, Northwestern University's Northwestern Law Judicial Education Program, James Madison University's Center for the Constitution at Montpelier and several other, smaller organizations.
These seminars are a way for ALEC's corporate members and contributors to assist the cabal's pursuit of influencing judges to render pro-corporate decisions on important issues and cases. Below the fold I'll provide some of the information, a video from 20/20 and other documents identifying how this entire "system" has been set up, the funders and backers and the impact these maneuvers have had upon our judicial system.
Since the founding of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in 1973, conservative Republicans have pursued one overall objective - to control all three branches of the federal government. The reason for seeking to gain total control is obvious.
In this pursuit they began by striving to grab control of state government's three branches; legislative, judicial and gubernatorial. In this latter effort, they have been relatively successful in that today they have twenty-one fully controlled state governments. Many of these states became "Red" after the 2010 election that brought wins to the Tea Party and control to the GOP in more states than ever before.
It isn't sufficient for anyone seeking control of our government to merely hold a majority in any of the three branches of government - they also need those in the controlling majorities to think like they do, owe their careers to those who worked to put them in office or exhibit a genuine allegiance to an overall agenda.
In 2001 ABC's 20/20 presented an expose titled "Junkets for Judges" which can be found on YouTube in a two part presentation.
Here is part two.
An important part of the foregoing investigative report is the fact that they claim as of 2001 they had identified more than 500 US judges who had attended these seminars. Many that attended were at the time sitting in review of cases involving issues that were discussed at the seminars - and some returned to their courtrooms, and ruled favorably on behalf of corporate rights over governmental rights. This 20/20 report only reports on the GMU seminars. They don't address the ones provided by FREE, Northwestern University, Liberty Fund or others. At that time FREE had not opened their doors to state appellate and Supreme Court Justices and judges, providing the same pro-corporate seminars to them.
These junkets are designed to provide attending judges with an ultra-conservative, pro-corporate outlook on key issues. During these free trips judges attend daily seminars provided by purported scientists, corporate executives and others advancing a one-sided, pro-corporate, free-market conservative ideology. The seminars are designed to impart to the attending judiciary, corporate or business points of view on critical issues involving environment, economics, tort reform, EPA and takings law (eminent domain).
The cabal uses these free vacations in the same manner as the travel companies and time share companies do...everyone of us has been subjected to offers of "free vacations" for simply attending a time share presentation. None of us plan on buying a time share, or joining a "discount" club - but face it, many do and for that reason the techniques are successful and continue to be used year after year. These judicial education trips are no different. Judges get an all expense paid trip, thinking they will have fun and can ignore the propaganda presented in the seminars...but in the end, if they want to be able to take more of these trips, at some point they have to rule as if they've "learned" something at the previous ones, and thus be allowed subsequent trips.
I'm sure that those behind this activity involving the programming of judges, will no doubt claim that everyone has the right to advance their own arguments on important legal cases...that there are numerous other organizations providing seminars, conferences and work shops for judges. Just as they've done in defense of ALEC's operations and pursuits of proposing and passing state laws favorable to their conservative political agenda.
There are important differences between the cabal's efforts of influencing the judiciary - and legislation - and the efforts put forth by others; the partisanship of their efforts. All of their activities are designed to advance a pro-corporate, conservatively political position. The claim of bi-partisanship or non-partisan makeup of the cabal's members is delusional. ALEC for instance has conservative leaning Democratic members, but they hold no positions of authority within the ALEC hierarchy; no chairmanship of ALEC's task forces, on their Public sector board, etc.
Though the 20/20 expose concentrated upon George Mason University's involvement in providing these trips for our judges,we found several additional universities and private, non-profit organizations participating in these efforts at both the state and federal level. All but one are provided by conservative organizations, foundations or schools:
• George Mason University(Law and Economics Center - LEC) (Recipient of Koch funding totaling $20,297,143 from 1986-2006 ), Earhart Foundation, JM Olin Foundation.
• Foundation for Research on Economics and Environment (FREE). Funded by ExxonMobil, GE Foundation, Koch Family Foundation ($1,305,500 through 2006), JM Olin Foundation, Earhart Foundation and Castle Rock Foundation (Coors). ($65,000 in 2009) and the Claude Lambe Foundation ($1,540,000).
• Northwestern Law Judicial Education Program (funded by many key ALEC members, including Koch) .
• Liberty Fund providing judicial conferences and seminars to/for Judges.
• Federalist Society (Koch funded $1,437,200 through 2006)
• Aspen Institute (Koch funded $1,115,000 through 2006 with David Koch on the BOD).
• University of Kansas, Law and Organizational Economics Center (LOEC) begun in 1995 by Henry Butler with a $1,000,000 grant from the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation (see section on Henry Butler below).
• International Judicial Academy which provides seminars for judges on the International level.
Supporters of the IJA have included; JEHT Foundation and Foundation to Promote Open Society. JEHT Foundation ceased to operate in 2009 due to the Madoff ponzi scheme where their money was invested. Foundation to Promote Open Society gets some of their principal funding from George Soros. Much of their contributions and donations received – along with their expenditures - are to/from other countries and include non-Soros’ funding.
If you would like to know if a specific federal judge has attended one or more of these seminars, visit http://tripsforjudges.org/... where you can input a judge's name and search by organization, foundation, etc. This link is somewhat outdated and does not have current information for 2012, but much of the information is in there and worth a look.
Other organizations provide judicial “training” to state and federal judges, but the foregoing seven are those with ongoing regularly scheduled seminars and trips. Some completely reimburse judges for travel, housing and food while others reimburse to a set amount (such as U of K's LOEC that reimbursed state judges up to $500.00 cap for travel).
The funding for six of the seven providing such judicial trips are funded with money from one or more of the Koch controlled family foundations. In addition many known conservative foundations also fund these trips and seminars for judges, including; John M. Olin Foundation, Inc., M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Castle Rock Foundation, Claude Lambe Foundation (Koch controlled) and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
A sampling of topics presented in the seminars to these judges – state and federal – include; environment, takings laws (imminent domain), economics, tort reform, juror selection and jury decision making, The presentations are made by speakers from various colleges, universities and of greater importance from corporate CEO’s and executives representing Shell Oil and other major ALEC member corporations. In addition many of the presentations are made by those representing; Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, National Center for Policy Analysis, George Mason University, Brookings Institute and several other mostly conservative entities.
Trip/seminar funding listed by George Mason University include most of ALEC’s for profit corporate members, and the non-profits that fund ALEC – and most have ties to the Koch and related foundations previously mentioned. (Those in bold are known ALEC/Koch benefactors, affiliates or corporate members). These funders are:
3M (former ALEC member)
Abbott Laboratories (ALEC member)
Aequus Institute
Armstrong Foundation (ALEC funding source)
AT&T (ALEC Member)
Atlas Economic Research Foundation
Batchelder III, Hon. William G. (current Speaker of the Ohio House)
Batchelder, Hon. Alice M. (Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit)
BP America, Inc. (ALEC member)
Brunswick Corporation
Castle Rock Foundation (Coors, ALEC funder)
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation (ALEC Funding)
CIGNA Corporation (ALEC affiliated through Nickles Lobby firm)
Coca-Cola Company (former ALEC member)
Commonwealth of VA Tax Donations
Cortopassi Institute
Dow Chemical Company (ALEC member)
Earhart Foundation
Exxon Mobil Corporation (ALEC member)
FedEx Corporation (ALEC member)
General Motors Corporation (ALEC member)
Gillette Company
Goodrich Foundation
John M. Olin Foundation
John William Pope Foundation
Johnson & Johnson (ALEC member)
Lilly Endowment, Inc. (ALEC member [Eli Lilly parent])
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt (Koch Ind. Patent Atty)
Pepsico Inc. (former ALEC member)
Pfizer, Inc. (ALEC member)
Property and Casualty Ins. Ass.
Randolph Foundation
Roe Foundation
Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc.
Sarah Jane Humphreys Foundation, Inc.
Sarah Scaife Foundation, Inc.
Searle Freedom Trust
Sharp Foundation
Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation
Shell Oil Company (ALEC member)
State Farm Insurance Companies (ALEC member)
Sunmark Foundation
U.S. Chamber of Commerce (ALEC member and joint amicus brief filings)
Unilever United States, Inc. (former ALEC member)
Verizon Communications (ALEC member)
William E. Simon Foundation
J.P. Humphreys Foundation
And when we researched Northwestern Law's Judicial Education Seminars we found many of the same funding sources:
American Petroleum Institute (ALEC affiliate)
AT&T Inc. (ALEC member_
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation (ALEC benefactor/member)
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Exxon Mobil Corporation (ALEC member)
LyondellBasell Industries (ALEC member)
McDonald's Corporation (former ALEC member)
Microsoft Corporation (ALEC member)
Pfizer Inc. (ALEC member)
Searle Freedom Trust (ALEC affiliate - Heritage Foundation funder)
Shell Oil Company (ALEC member)
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (ALEC member)
The Dow Chemical Company (ALEC member)
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation (ALEC/Koch affiliate & funding)
U.S. Chamber of Commerce (ALEC affiliate and joint amicus brief filings)
Here is a picture from FREE's 2007 website that listed their funding sources for the judicial education program:

Again, we see many of the same sources that are funding GMU and Northwestern University's programs. Note the corporate donors are all ALEC members - or were in 2007 - and the $100,000 annual contribution from the Koch's Claude Lambe Foundation.
In 2006 federal courts began requiring that all "seminars" provided to judges had to be reported. The reports required submission of the organization providing the seminars, topics presented and the name and organization presenting, where the funding came from for each. A current listing of seminars held and reported to the US court since 2009 is found here. As you'll find if you visit, there are page after page of such seminars directed at "educating" our judges - state and federal. Each one has basically the same funders, presenters, and you'll also see that in many cases funding is provided by federal judges and their wives for these events.
The FREE foundation was uncomfortable filing such reports with the court system, so after we exposed them in 2010-2011, FREE decided to stop dedicating their seminars to judges. Now they provide the same seminars, with the same topics and presenters but provide that these are for "Religious Leaders". Judges are still free to attend these FREE seminars - but since FREE lists them as for Religious Leaders, there is no requirement to submit reports to the US court system about them...no list of benefactors, topics, presenters, attendees, etc.
George Mason, Northwestern, Liberty Fund all continue to report their judicial seminars to the federal court as required. FREE is the only one to cease their reporting by now claiming that their seminars are no longer dedicated to judicial education - but the seminars are "still open to judges" that wish to attend.
As with the ALEC model legislation, many of the titles provided for the topics covered in these judicial seminars are worded innocuously so they sound non-partisan and beneficial to the public as a whole. We learned with ALEC to be suspicious of the wording of their proposed legislation and look instead to the content. One has to do the same with the titles of the seminars and subjects listed for educating judges. Below are just a few. Those in bold are known ALEC/Koch affiliates:
Center for the Constitution at Montpelier June and December 2010 (Funder: Robert H. Smith)
The Future of Executive Authority
Historical Context of the Constitution Related to Modern Technology
Future of the Fourth Amendment
Bioengineering and the Future of 14th Amendment Personhood
Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment August 2011 (funded by MJ Murdock Charitable Trust)
Taking the Long View of Progress
Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment July 2010 (funded by MJ Murdock Charitable Trust)
George Sack (John Hopkins University)
Addiction: A Disease of the Brain or a Disorder of Choice?
Sally Satel (American Enterprise Institute)
Delusions and Dreams vs. Consumer Driven Health Care
Regina Herzlinger (Harvard Business School)
Foundations for Understanding Health Care Policy
Regina Herzlinger (Harvard Business School)
Genetics and the Future of Medicine
Raymond Gesteland (University of Utah)
Genetics and the Future of Medicine
George Sack (John Hopkins University)
Information, Incentives & Health Care Decision Making
John Goodman (National Center for Policy Analysis)
Perspecives from a Medical Entrepreneur
George Herzlinger (Belmont Instrument Corporation)
Potentials for Policy Reform
John Goodman (National Center for Policy Analysis)
Potentials for Policy Reform
Regina Herzlinger (Harvard Business School)
Practical Problems with Organ Donation
Sally Satel (American Enterprise Institute)
Reflection on Science and Policy
Raymond Gesteland (University of Utah)
Reflection on Science and Policy
Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment August 2010 (funded by MJ Murdock Charitable Trust - Seminar title: Terrorism, Civil Liberty and National Security [08/08/2010 - 08/12/2010] (continued))
James Carafano (The Heritage Foundation)
Cyber-Screwed- Why We Can't Fight Cyber-terrorism
James Carafano (The Heritage Foundation)
The Unhappy Marriage: Civil-Military Discord in Fighting Terrorism
Charles Fried (Harvard Law School)
Sunni and Shi'a: There Are Differences and Why They Matter
Richard Stearns (United States District Court)
Terrorism and the Allocation of Public Resources
Richard Stearns (United States District Court)
The Limits of Law- The Necessity of Executive Disobedience
Charles Fried (Harvard Law School)
The Limits of Law- The Necessity of Executive Disobedience
George Mason University Law & Economics Center
Seminar title: Economics Institute for Judges, Week 2 [03/10/2012 - 03/16/2012] Funded by xyz corp.
Todd Zywicki (George Mason University School of Law)
Mortgage Markets
Todd Zywicki (George Mason University School of Law)
On the Efficiency of the Common Law
Todd Zywicki (George Mason University School of Law)
The Not-So-Good Old Days of Consumer Credit
Henry N. Butler (George Mason University School of Law)
Economic Thinking
Henry N. Butler (George Mason University School of Law)
Economics of Insurance
Henry N. Butler (George Mason University School of Law)
Law & Economics in the Courts
Henry N. Butler (George Mason University School of Law)
Supply, Demand & Mutually Beneficial Exchange
Northwestern Law Judicial Education Program Seminar title: Advanced Law and Economics Institute: Environmental Economics [09/21/2009 - 09/23/2009]
Funders
American Petroleum Institute
AT&T Inc.
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Exxon Mobil Corporation
LyondellBasell Industries
McDonald's Corporation
Microsoft Corporation
Pfizer Inc.
Searle Freedom Trust
Shell Oil Company
State Farm Mutual Automobil Insurance Company
The Dow Chemical Company
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Speakers/Topics
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Environmental Federalism
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Externalitites
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Markets in Action
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Review of Economic Concepts: Incentives Matter
Northwestern Law Judicial Education Program
Seminar title: Economics Institute for Judges [10/11/2009 - 10/16/2009]
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Corporate Governance
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Economic Evidence
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Forensic Economics
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Information and Prices, Allocative Efficiency, Equilibrium
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Principal-Agent Problems and Contracting
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Risk, Injury, and Liability
Henry Butler (Northwestern University School of Law)
Scarcity, Mutually Beneficial Exchange, Comparative Advantage
George Mason University Law & Economics Center
Seminar title: The Strategic Constitution [10/21/2009 - 10/24/2009]
Robert Cooter (Boalt Hall School of Law, Univ of CA, Berkeley)
The Strategic Constitution
George Mason University Law & Economics Center
Seminar title: Economic Analysis of Law [11/06/2009 - 11/12/2009
Charles Goetz (University of Virginia School of Law)(Member American Family Business Foundation)
Analyzing Human Choice
Henry Manne (George Mason University School of Law (Emeritus)
Corporate Law
William Landes (University of Chicago Law School)
Economic Structure of Tort Law
Charles Goetz (University of Virginia School of Law)
Fairness vs Efficiency
William Landes (University of Chicago Law School)
Intellectual Property
William Landes (University of Chicago Law School)
Negligence, Strict Liability and Causation
Charles Goetz (University of Virginia School of Law)
Rivalrous and Risky Decisions
Charles Goetz was a signatory to Milton Friedman's letter: "
Top Economists Agree: It’s Time to Repeal the Death Tax!" letter sent under the letterhead of the American Family Business Foundation in 2001. Other signatories included ALEC, Jonathan Williams (ALEC), Art Laffer (ALEC Scholar), Henry N. Butler (review of the US Court's Seminar reports linked to above, reveals that Butler is a frequent speaker at most of the seminars given to judges). His credentials vary, sometimes listing him as GMU School of Law, Northwestern U's School of Law, etc.
It is important to know who these people are who are lecturing our judiciary. Let's look closer at Henry N. Butler. As noted above, Butler founded the University of Kansas' Law and Organizational Economics Center (LOEC) in 1995 with a $1,000,000 grant from the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation. Here is more on Butler from Wiki:
Henry N. Butler (born c. 1955) is an American professor of law, economics, and public policy. He currently serves as the executive director of the Searle Center at the George Mason University's School of Law. He formerly served as the Director of the Judicial Education Program at the American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Institution Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. Butler is a conservative and a supporter of free markets with little regulation; he has acted as an expert witness in a legal cases involving antitrust, restrictive covenants, damages, joint ventures, and other issues.
Butler ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 11th congressional district in the 1992 elections; he lost the general election to Democrat Leslie L. Byrne.
Butler received his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Richmond in 1977. He then attended Virginia Tech, where he earned a Master of Arts in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1982. There he studied under Nobel Economics Laureate James M. Buchanan. Butler received his Juris Doctor law degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1982, where he was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics.
Butler spent three years at Texas A&M as an assistant professor of management before becoming a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School during the 1985-86 academic year. From 1986 to 1993, Butler was a professor at George Mason University School of Law. After 1992 Butler was a Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Distinguished Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Kansas School of Law and School of Business, and for a short time served as dean of the Chapman University, Argyros School of Business and Economics and Chairman of the Chapman University Law and Organizational Economics Center before moving to Chapman in 2001.
Butler has been involved in the political and legal spheres. While at George Mason University, he served as director of the Law and Economics Center at the George Mason University School of Law, which operates the Economics Institutes program for federal judges, which is controversial. In December 1995, Butler introduced the Economics Institute for State Judges at the University of Kansas' Law and Organizational Economics Center.
Butler has written extensively on law and economics. He has written a casebook, Economic Analysis for Lawyers (with Christopher Drahozal, Carolina Academic Press), used at the Economics Institute for State Judges. Other books by Butler include Unhealthy Alliances: Bureaucrats, Interest Groups, and Politicians in Health (1994, American Entreprise Institute) The Corporation and the Constitution (with Larry E. Ribstein; 1995, American Entreprise Institute); and Using Federalism to Improve Environmental Policy (with Jonathan R. Macey; 1996, American Entreprise Institute).
Butler serves on the Legal Advisory Council of the AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest and the Advisory Board of the Atlantic Legal Foundation.
Butler has been cited (
report to the Kansas Insurance Commission) in key reports involving insurance and
spoken to the Federal Trade Commission on economic issues.
University of Kansas, School of Law..."a Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Distinguished Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Kansas School of Law. Know who else is now advocating "Excellence in Advocacy" at U of K's School of Law? Shook, Hardy and Bacon - the law firm that advances ALEC's "Tort Reform" model legislation through the Civil Justice Task Force. The CJTF is directed by Victor Schwartz of SHB, and another SHB attorney sits as the CJTF "Advisor" - Mark Behrens.
Here's a picture of Victor Schwartz of SHB giving a presentation on Tort Reform to ALEC's Civil Justice Task Force working group in 2010 in San Diego:

Today as yesterday, pictures say a lot...here are three pictures of Henry Butler. In the first, he's speaking at ALEC's 2010 Meeting in San Diego, CA. In the second he is speaking at a Searle Center judicial seminar in 2010 and in the third are judges sitting in attendance at that seminar...



Another frequently used speaker at these judicial education seminars is Todd Zywiki, professor at GMU. Here is Zywiki's bio provided by the FREE Foundation where Zywiki sits upon their Board of Directors:
Todd J. Zywicki is Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law ands Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review. From 2003-2004, Professor Zywicki served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. He has also taught at Vanderbilt University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, and Mississippi College School of Law.
Professor Zywicki clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was executive editor of the Virginia Tax Review and John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics. Professor Zywicki also received an M.A. in Economics from Clemson University and an A.B. cum Laude with high honors in his major from Dartmouth College.
Professor Zywicki is a Senior Scholar of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Senior Fellow of the James Buchanan Center, Program on Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, at George Mason University, a Senior Fellow of the Goldwater Institute, and a Fellow of the International Centre for Economic Research in Turin, Italy. During the Fall 2008 Semester Professor Zywicki was the Searle Fellow of the George Mason University School of Law and was a 2008-09 W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Arch W. Shaw National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace.
Professor Zywicki is the author of more than 60 articles in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed economics journals. He is one of the Top 50 Most Downloaded Law Authors at the Social Science Research Network, both All Time and during the Past 12 Months. He served as the Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review from 2001-02. He has testified several times before Congress on issues of consumer bankruptcy law and consumer credit and is a frequent commentator on legal issues in the print and broadcast media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, andThe Laura Ingraham Show. He is a contributor to the popular legal weblog The Volokh Conspiracy and The Atlantic Business Channel of The Atlanticmagazine.
Professor Zywicki is a member of the Governing Board and the Advisory Council for the Financial Services Research Program at George Washington University School of Business, the Executive Committee for the Federalist Society's Financial Institutions and E-Commerce Practice Group, the Advisory Council of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the Program Advisory Board of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. He is currently the Chair of the Academic Advisory Council for the following organizations: The Bill of Rights Institute, the film “We the People in IMAX,” and the McCormick-Tribune Foundation “Freedom Museum” in Chicago, Illinois. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Bill of Rights Institute and in 2005 he was elected an Alumni Trustee of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.
Federal Judge Jerry E. Smith that Zywiki clerked for, attended many of the GMU and FREE trips and seminars:
http://tripsforjudges.org/.... Click on judges, select Jerry E. Smith and look for yourself: trips and seminars from FREE, Liberty Fund, Federalist Society, etc. Here's a partial screen shot of some of his attendance:

The Chairman of FREE is John Baden. Baden and FREE are not only important as a part of programming our judges, he has shown he has great influence at the SCOTUS level as well (remember I began this with a segment on the use of Amicus briefs used at the federal and SCOTUS levels of our judiciary). Here is Baden, his wife and FREE's Associate Director Pete Geddes with Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas at a Heritage Foundation President's dinner:

Here is a muckety chart showing the connections between Justice Thomas and the Koch cabal...

Notice that near the center of this graph, you find beside Thomas: Charles G. Koch foundation, Searle Freedom Trust, American Enterprise Institute, Coors and Castlerock Foundation, Scaife Foundation, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and from there it widens out to include most of the cabal organizations, foundations and individuals involved.
In this graph, you'll find the connections between Justice Thomas' law clerk, Naomi Rao and other organizations. (RAO was a witness against the confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor - and links to the Bush administration:

Much of the policy, legislation and resolutions the seminars provide to judges are based upon pro-corporate pursuit and are/were financially beneficial to not only the Koch brothers (personally), but to ALEC’s corporate membership; ExxonMobil, AT&T, Koch Industries, PhRMA, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson and Johnson, their Insurance company members, etc. Not only is Koch’s interests and that of the corporate members assisted through this form of judicial influence, but also other Conservative “foundations” which help fund the cabal's overall "free market" pursuits.
Arguments that "we're only doing what other bi-partisan organizations are doing" is bullshit. As the above demonstrates, all of this is being done to advance an agenda that is totally partisan and dedicated to the views and positions held by one political group - a minority view. This is how the conservative faction has become able to successfully pursue their vision of democracy and America over the objections raised by the majority. We now can clearly see all their activities; the model legislation, resolutions, judicial and legislative influences and the corruption bought through campaign contributions. It all has a purpose, design and end goal...none of which any of us as true Americans will accept or condone. One glaring example of their pursuits and influence is demonstrated by looking at the Citizen's United SCOTUS decision and how that has benefited the GOP party - and in particular the conservative faction of that party owned, operated and controlled by the likes of Grover Norquist and Karl Rover. Look what has happened in America since that single SCOTUS decision brought to us in part through the cooperation of Thomas, Scalia and ALito - all with ties to the Federalist Society and Koch money.
Between ALEC's Federal Forum Task Force, their Amicus Project and these seminars, our federal judiciary is continuously "educated" in the ways of the cabal and the pro-corporate positions advanced. At the core of these efforts are several key players; the Koch brothers (obviously), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, George Mason University, Heritage Foundation and Mackinac Center, etc. The tools used include not just pro-corporate seminars and filing briefs to the same judges - it also includes placement of key "clerks" and "interns" close to these judges and SCOTUS. With the constant pressure, influence and being in close proximity to individuals representing the cabal, the trend of our courts to lean to the right in many of their decisions and opinions is not surprising. What is surprising is the fact that all of this has been ongoing for decades and operating quietly under the radar of us all. They have been so successful that by 2012 this has become the "norm" for political and judicial reporting. Too many of our large media outlets are now compromised and for those of us operating in "alternative" media outlets, our audiences simply are not large enough to have a substantial impact. This all works to the benefit of the cabal - who collectively now own or control more than 85% of the US news outlets.
We can ill afford to allow this status quo to continue. VLTP and our Abolish ALEC group here on DK have worked for months on end to research, compile and prepare these investigative reports for Daily Kos readers and Progressive voters. It is important to make this material available to all - yes, even Republicans who are blissfully unaware of the corrupt influences such as those described above, being wielded under the GOP banner, should be made aware and forced to make a choice as our country moves forward.
In upcoming segments we'll introduce many to the cabal's involvement with foreign government representative (without the knowledge of those nations) to develop U.S. policies and laws...and we'll provide a true and accurate comparison between the NCSL and ALEC.
Be sure and visit our website at www.vltp.net for the latest news, articles and opinions on ALEC and the cabal. If interested in research interning, send us an email through the website. If you have information, ideas or documents, contact us through the website and let's all work together to disinfect ALEC and the cabal and remove them from our democracy altogether.