#scalia — Public Fediverse posts

RE: https://mastodon.social/@SeanCasten/116597017246406093

TL;DR

In case you missed it:

1980s: Reagan and Justice #Scalia push #UnitaryExecutiveTheory arguing that the Constitution vests all executive power directly in the President.

2001–2008: #GWBush uses "Unitary Executive Theory" to consolidate security services and justify signing statements on laws passed by Congress.

2014: #Trump stated on air: "If I decide to run for office, I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely... And I would love to do that. He would go on to repeat this during actual campaigns. He did not release them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_returns_of_Donald_Trump

2019 While Trump was president, a man hired under Trump's IRS gave #TaxRecords to the New York Times while Trump was defying a congressional subpoena for records they were allowed by statute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_E._Littlejohn

2020: In Seila Law LLC v. CFPB the Supreme Court claims "the entire 'executive power' belongs to the President alone" and strikes down removal protections for the director of the CFPB.

2024: In Trump v. US the Supreme Court granted presidents broad, near-absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. Also, the leaker of the records Congress couldn't get and that Trump promised was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

2025–2026: Over and over, "Unitary Executive Theory" is used to justify a purge of employees and departments Trump deems to be enemies.

2026/01/29: Trump sues his own IRS and Treasury over the leak of tax records that he had previously promised to release himself. He demanded 10⁶ × $10,000 — https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72207870/trump-v-internal-revenue-service/

2026/05/18: Before showing up in court to answer "is Trump just suing himself with our $$$ at stake?" they settled out of court for a reported 10⁶ × $1776 — no Court, no Congress, no Transparency.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@SeanCasten/116597017246406093

TL;DR

In case you missed it:

1980s: Reagan and Justice #Scalia push #UnitaryExecutiveTheory arguing that the Constitution vests all executive power directly in the President.

2001–2008: #GWBush uses "Unitary Executive Theory" to consolidate security services and justify signing statements on laws passed by Congress.

2014: #Trump stated on air: "If I decide to run for office, I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely... And I would love to do that. He would go on to repeat this during actual campaigns. He did not release them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_returns_of_Donald_Trump

2019 While Trump was president, a man hired under Trump's IRS gave #TaxRecords to the New York Times while Trump was defying a congressional subpoena for records they were allowed by statute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_E._Littlejohn

2020: In Seila Law LLC v. CFPB the Supreme Court claims "the entire 'executive power' belongs to the President alone" and strikes down removal protections for the director of the CFPB.

2024: In Trump v. US the Supreme Court granted presidents broad, near-absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. Also, the leaker of the records Congress couldn't get and that Trump promised was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

2025–2026: Over and over, "Unitary Executive Theory" is used to justify a purge of employees and departments Trump deems to be enemies.

2026/01/29: Trump sues his own IRS and Treasury over the leak of tax records that he had previously promised to release himself. He demanded 10⁶ × $10,000 — https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72207870/trump-v-internal-revenue-service/

2026/05/18: Before showing up in court to answer "is Trump just suing himself with our $$$ at stake?" they settled out of court for a reported 10⁶ × $1776 — no Court, no Congress, no Transparency.

https://www.europesays.com/it/260832/ I Me contro Te si sposano a settembre: ma per partecipare al matrimonio bisognerà pagare fino a 250 euro. Ed esplodono le polemiche #calagna #CalagnaSofia #CalagnaSofiaScalia #Entertainment #euro #Intrattenimento #IT #Italia #Italy #luigi #LuigiCalagna #LuigiCalagnaSofia #matrimonio #monetizzano #nozze #polemiche #Pubblico #scalia #scelta #show #social

Hawk on the Second Amendment: The Left, Self-Defense, and the Right to Carry in America #Hawk #hawkpodcasts #mdg650hawk #2A #SecondAmendment #Heller #Bruen #Scalia #Trump #ICE #NationalGuard #WashingtonDC #selfdefense #carry #firearms #constitution #gunrights #left #politics #democracy #government #currentevents #authoritarianism #concealedcarry #training #rights #2ndamendment #YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBozywkJWnU

Hawk on the Second Amendment: The Left, Self-Defense, and the Right to Carry in America #Hawk #hawkpodcasts #mdg650hawk #2A #SecondAmendment #Heller #Bruen #Scalia #Trump #ICE #NationalGuard #WashingtonDC #selfdefense #carry #firearms #constitution #gunrights #left #politics #democracy #government #currentevents #authoritarianism #concealedcarry #training #rights #2ndamendment #YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBozywkJWnU

In one late June #HabeasCorpus ruling, …3 contentious #Scalia footnotes criticized Souter by name; 3 days later, in one of the term's leading cases, …Scalia in angry dissent dismissed #DavidSouter's majority opinion as "facile" & petulantly invoked Souter's name again & again in criticizing the outcome. Seemingly both provoked & bemused, Souter responded that "Justice Scalia's dissent is certainly the work of a gladiator, but he thrusts at lions of his own imagining."

#SCOTUS #law #judiciary

In one late June #HabeasCorpus ruling, …3 contentious #Scalia footnotes criticized Souter by name; 3 days later, in one of the term's leading cases, …Scalia in angry dissent dismissed #DavidSouter's majority opinion as "facile" & petulantly invoked Souter's name again & again in criticizing the outcome. Seemingly both provoked & bemused, Souter responded that "Justice Scalia's dissent is certainly the work of a gladiator, but he thrusts at lions of his own imagining."

#SCOTUS #law #judiciary

Through his role in securing the nominations of Clarence #Thomas, John #Roberts, and Samuel #Alito to the Supreme Court,
#Leonard #Leo’s political cachet began to grow.

An avid networker, he cultivated friendships with other members of the court,
spending a weekend in Colorado hunting with Judge Antonin #Scalia
— himself a devout Catholic and, like the Corkerys, close to #Opus #Dei.

Surrounded by such religious zeal, it didn’t take long for their example to reawaken his own Catholic faith, and Leo soon began tapping his network of #darkmoney #backers to support religious causes.

He twice bailed out the #Becket #Fund, a nonprofit named after a twelfth-century English martyr, that officially worked to protect religious freedoms,
especially those that were important to conservative Catholics.

He reveled in his reputation as the financial savior of this important community.

Soon afterwards, President Bush picked Leo as his representative to the "United States Commission on International Religious Freedom,"
a federal agency set up to police religious freedom around the world.

Despite its lofty aims, the commission had a tiny budget and its commissioners were unpaid.

Within Washington circles, many saw it as nothing more than an office for amateurs who meddled in foreign policy.

Undeterred by the skeptics, Leo made the most of his time at the commission to push his own Catholic agenda
— traveling to places like Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, and Vietnam to investigate allegations of religious persecution.

His own faith seemed to grow during that time,
with Leo occasionally reprimanding his staff for putting him in a hotel too far from a church,
making it difficult for him to attend Mass.

Some colleagues began to note a particular bias in the way he carried out a role that conflicted with the commission’s stated aim of championing the freedom of all religions.

He became embroiled in a lawsuit after one former colleague accused him of ❌firing her because she was Muslim.

Several staff members resigned because of the controversy,
and Leo was fired not long after.

Despite the scandal, his time at the commission deepened Leo’s faith and helped him cultivate his image as a serious political figure.

By the time of the #Federalist #Society’s twenty-fifth anniversary dinner in November 2007,
his influence was clear.

Leo shared the stage with the president and three sitting Supreme Court Justices
— Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito.

Chief Justice John Roberts sent a video message.

“Thanks in part to your efforts, a new generation of lawyers is rising,” President Bush told the assembled members.

At the time of this dinner, Leo was still recovering from the sudden death of his daughter Margaret just a few weeks before her fifteenth birthday
— an event that had a profound impact on him.

Margaret had been born with spina bifida and used a wheelchair.

Events around her death had reinforced Leo’s faith.

The previous summer, during a family vacation, Leo had promised Margaret that he would try to go to Mass more regularly.

Over the years, Margaret had developed an obsession with anything religious, and would nag her parents to take her to Mass.

She especially loved angels
— and priests, insisting on a hug every time she saw one.

The day after they returned from vacation, Leo got up early to go to Mass
— as promised — and looked in on Margaret.

As he was walking down the hall, she started gasping for breath and died shortly afterward.

“I will always think that she did her job,” he later said. “She did her job.”

Through his role in securing the nominations of Clarence #Thomas, John #Roberts, and Samuel #Alito to the Supreme Court,
#Leonard #Leo’s political cachet began to grow.

An avid networker, he cultivated friendships with other members of the court,
spending a weekend in Colorado hunting with Judge Antonin #Scalia
— himself a devout Catholic and, like the Corkerys, close to #Opus #Dei.

Surrounded by such religious zeal, it didn’t take long for their example to reawaken his own Catholic faith, and Leo soon began tapping his network of #darkmoney #backers to support religious causes.

He twice bailed out the #Becket #Fund, a nonprofit named after a twelfth-century English martyr, that officially worked to protect religious freedoms,
especially those that were important to conservative Catholics.

He reveled in his reputation as the financial savior of this important community.

Soon afterwards, President Bush picked Leo as his representative to the "United States Commission on International Religious Freedom,"
a federal agency set up to police religious freedom around the world.

Despite its lofty aims, the commission had a tiny budget and its commissioners were unpaid.

Within Washington circles, many saw it as nothing more than an office for amateurs who meddled in foreign policy.

Undeterred by the skeptics, Leo made the most of his time at the commission to push his own Catholic agenda
— traveling to places like Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, and Vietnam to investigate allegations of religious persecution.

His own faith seemed to grow during that time,
with Leo occasionally reprimanding his staff for putting him in a hotel too far from a church,
making it difficult for him to attend Mass.

Some colleagues began to note a particular bias in the way he carried out a role that conflicted with the commission’s stated aim of championing the freedom of all religions.

He became embroiled in a lawsuit after one former colleague accused him of ❌firing her because she was Muslim.

Several staff members resigned because of the controversy,
and Leo was fired not long after.

Despite the scandal, his time at the commission deepened Leo’s faith and helped him cultivate his image as a serious political figure.

By the time of the #Federalist #Society’s twenty-fifth anniversary dinner in November 2007,
his influence was clear.

Leo shared the stage with the president and three sitting Supreme Court Justices
— Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito.

Chief Justice John Roberts sent a video message.

“Thanks in part to your efforts, a new generation of lawyers is rising,” President Bush told the assembled members.

At the time of this dinner, Leo was still recovering from the sudden death of his daughter Margaret just a few weeks before her fifteenth birthday
— an event that had a profound impact on him.

Margaret had been born with spina bifida and used a wheelchair.

Events around her death had reinforced Leo’s faith.

The previous summer, during a family vacation, Leo had promised Margaret that he would try to go to Mass more regularly.

Over the years, Margaret had developed an obsession with anything religious, and would nag her parents to take her to Mass.

She especially loved angels
— and priests, insisting on a hug every time she saw one.

The day after they returned from vacation, Leo got up early to go to Mass
— as promised — and looked in on Margaret.

As he was walking down the hall, she started gasping for breath and died shortly afterward.

“I will always think that she did her job,” he later said. “She did her job.”

#Leonard #Leo was born on Long Island in the mid-sixties.
When he was only a toddler, he lost his father — a pastry chef — to cancer.
At the age of five, his mother remarried, and the Leos moved to New Jersey, where he attended Monroe Township High School.
Leo was chosen as the “Most Likely to Succeed”
a distinction he shared with classmate #Sally #Schroeder, his future wife.
In the yearbook, the two were shown sitting next to each other, holding wads of cash and with dollar signs painted on their glasses.
He was so effective at raising money for his senior prom that his classmates nicknamed him the “Moneybags Kid.” 
Throughout his life, he remained steeped in the deep Catholicism of his grandfather, who had emigrated to the United States from Italy as a teenager;
his grandparents attended Mass daily, and encouraged the young Leonard to follow their lead.
After high school, Leo went to Cornell University, studying under a group of conservative academics in the university’s department of government
and with the wider national backdrop of iconoclastic scholars led by Yale University’s #Robert #Bork and the University of Chicago’s #Antonin #Scalia, who were building the case for a novel legal doctrine known as #originalism.
He got a series of internships in Washington, D.C., during the final years of the Reagan administration,
then returned to Cornell to join the law school, where in 1989 he founded the local chapter of a student organization called the #Federalist #Society.
That group had been set up by three conservative-leaning students from Yale, Harvard, and Chicago seven years earlier as a way of challenging what they saw as the dominance of liberal ideology at the country’s law schools. 

After graduating, Leo married Sally, who had been raised as a Protestant but who used to go to Catholic Mass five times every weekend because she played the organ.

She decided to convert not long before her marriage.

The couple moved back to Washington, where Leo clerked for a judge on the court of appeals and became close with another appellate judge who had recently been appointed to the D.C. circuit
— a man from Georgia called #Clarence #Thomas,
who had toyed with becoming a Catholic priest.

Despite being ten years older and from much more humble origins,
Thomas shared Leo’s conservative outlook, and the two soon developed a deep friendship that would endure for many years.

During this period, Leo was asked by the Federalist Society to become its first employee
— although he delayed his start date so that he could help his good friend Thomas through his contentious confirmation process for the Supreme Court.

Despite accusations of sexual harassment hanging over him, Thomas won Senate confirmation by a slim margin.

It would be the first in a series of fights in which Leo would have to put aside the teachings of his Christian faith as he focused on the greater goal of pushing through a conservative revolution of the courts and of society at large.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/opus-dei-leonard-leo-supreme-court-moneybags-kid-1235115538/

#Leonard #Leo was born on Long Island in the mid-sixties.
When he was only a toddler, he lost his father — a pastry chef — to cancer.
At the age of five, his mother remarried, and the Leos moved to New Jersey, where he attended Monroe Township High School.
Leo was chosen as the “Most Likely to Succeed”
a distinction he shared with classmate #Sally #Schroeder, his future wife.
In the yearbook, the two were shown sitting next to each other, holding wads of cash and with dollar signs painted on their glasses.
He was so effective at raising money for his senior prom that his classmates nicknamed him the “Moneybags Kid.” 
Throughout his life, he remained steeped in the deep Catholicism of his grandfather, who had emigrated to the United States from Italy as a teenager;
his grandparents attended Mass daily, and encouraged the young Leonard to follow their lead.
After high school, Leo went to Cornell University, studying under a group of conservative academics in the university’s department of government
and with the wider national backdrop of iconoclastic scholars led by Yale University’s #Robert #Bork and the University of Chicago’s #Antonin #Scalia, who were building the case for a novel legal doctrine known as #originalism.
He got a series of internships in Washington, D.C., during the final years of the Reagan administration,
then returned to Cornell to join the law school, where in 1989 he founded the local chapter of a student organization called the #Federalist #Society.
That group had been set up by three conservative-leaning students from Yale, Harvard, and Chicago seven years earlier as a way of challenging what they saw as the dominance of liberal ideology at the country’s law schools. 

After graduating, Leo married Sally, who had been raised as a Protestant but who used to go to Catholic Mass five times every weekend because she played the organ.

She decided to convert not long before her marriage.

The couple moved back to Washington, where Leo clerked for a judge on the court of appeals and became close with another appellate judge who had recently been appointed to the D.C. circuit
— a man from Georgia called #Clarence #Thomas,
who had toyed with becoming a Catholic priest.

Despite being ten years older and from much more humble origins,
Thomas shared Leo’s conservative outlook, and the two soon developed a deep friendship that would endure for many years.

During this period, Leo was asked by the Federalist Society to become its first employee
— although he delayed his start date so that he could help his good friend Thomas through his contentious confirmation process for the Supreme Court.

Despite accusations of sexual harassment hanging over him, Thomas won Senate confirmation by a slim margin.

It would be the first in a series of fights in which Leo would have to put aside the teachings of his Christian faith as he focused on the greater goal of pushing through a conservative revolution of the courts and of society at large.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/opus-dei-leonard-leo-supreme-court-moneybags-kid-1235115538/

In 2021 & 2022, #AileenCannon took weeklong trips to the luxurious Sage Lodge in Pray, Montana, for legal colloquiums sponsored by George Mason, which named its #law school for #Scalia thanks to $30M in gifts that conservative judicial kingmaker #LeonardLeo helped organize.

#ethics #judiciary #JudicialEthics

In 2021 & 2022, #AileenCannon took weeklong trips to the luxurious Sage Lodge in Pray, Montana, for legal colloquiums sponsored by George Mason, which named its #law school for #Scalia thanks to $30M in gifts that conservative judicial kingmaker #LeonardLeo helped organize.

#ethics #judiciary #JudicialEthics

Federal Judge #Aileen M. #Cannon, the controversial jurist who tossed out the classified documents criminal case against Donald Trump in July,
⚠️failed to disclose her attendance at a May 2023 banquet funded by a conservative law school.

Cannon went to an event in Arlington, Va. honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, according to documents obtained from the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University.

At a lecture and private dinner, she sat among members of Scalia’s family, fellow Federalist Society members and more than 30 conservative federal judges.

Organizers billed the event as “an excellent opportunity to connect with judicial colleagues.”

⭐️A 2006 rule, intended to shine a light on judges’ attendance at paid seminars that could pose conflicts or influence decisions, requires them to file disclosure forms for such trips within 30 days and make them public on the court’s website.

It’s not the first time she has failed to fully comply with the rule.

❌In 2021 and 2022, Cannon took weeklong trips to the luxurious Sage Lodge in Pray, Montana, for legal colloquiums sponsored by George Mason, which named its law school for #Scalia thanks to $30 million in gifts that conservative judicial kingmaker #Leonard #Leo helped organize.

https://www.propublica.org/article/judge-aileen-cannon-trump-documents-case-travel-disclosures

Federal Judge #Aileen M. #Cannon, the controversial jurist who tossed out the classified documents criminal case against Donald Trump in July,
⚠️failed to disclose her attendance at a May 2023 banquet funded by a conservative law school.

Cannon went to an event in Arlington, Va. honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, according to documents obtained from the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University.

At a lecture and private dinner, she sat among members of Scalia’s family, fellow Federalist Society members and more than 30 conservative federal judges.

Organizers billed the event as “an excellent opportunity to connect with judicial colleagues.”

⭐️A 2006 rule, intended to shine a light on judges’ attendance at paid seminars that could pose conflicts or influence decisions, requires them to file disclosure forms for such trips within 30 days and make them public on the court’s website.

It’s not the first time she has failed to fully comply with the rule.

❌In 2021 and 2022, Cannon took weeklong trips to the luxurious Sage Lodge in Pray, Montana, for legal colloquiums sponsored by George Mason, which named its law school for #Scalia thanks to $30 million in gifts that conservative judicial kingmaker #Leonard #Leo helped organize.

https://www.propublica.org/article/judge-aileen-cannon-trump-documents-case-travel-disclosures

@RickiTarr

when you engage the #GOP in good faith, they whine you can't have a new #scotus justice in a presidential #election year

#centrist #democrats folded, milquetoast, weak, and we got #gorsuch instead of #garland replacing #scalia

scalia died feb '16, gorsuch confirmed apr '17

then they hammer through a new supreme court justice with an election 2 months out, #barrett replacing #ginsburg

ginsburg died sep '20, barrett confirmed oct '20

the GOP only deserves ash. fuck them forever

@RickiTarr

when you engage the #GOP in good faith, they whine you can't have a new #scotus justice in a presidential #election year

#centrist #democrats folded, milquetoast, weak, and we got #gorsuch instead of #garland replacing #scalia

scalia died feb '16, gorsuch confirmed apr '17

then they hammer through a new supreme court justice with an election 2 months out, #barrett replacing #ginsburg

ginsburg died sep '20, barrett confirmed oct '20

the GOP only deserves ash. fuck them forever

Leonard Leo typically operates in the background and goes to considerable lengths to cover his philanthropic tracks.

Each year, his groups send millions through #DonorsTrust,
which markets itself as a “principled philanthropic partner for conservative and libertarian donors”
and a means to anonymously fund “sensitive or controversial issues.”

Deep-pocketed benefactors like Leo can tell DonorsTrust where they want their money to ultimately go.

Its board of directors will “always respect grant requests that fall within the DonorsTrust mission and purpose,” per its website.

DonorsTrust declined to discuss the specifics of any contributions identified by The Intercept.

“We do not release to the general public either the names of our accountholders nor specific grants that they may have recommended,” said Lawson #Bader, its president and CEO.

Bader noted that some of the contributions listed on DonorsTrust’s tax filings may have originated from multiple donors.

But Leo’s funding vehicles
— especially the #Marble #Freedom #Trust and the #85Fund,
which he rebranded in 2020 and likely bankrolls via yet another donor-advised fund
— are among the biggest contributors to DonorsTrust.

In 2022, the 85 Fund sent $92 million through DonorsTrust,
more than a quarter of all contributions to DonorsTrust that year.

Marble Freedom Trust has distributed more than $41 million via DonorsTrust, according to a filing for its 2020 fiscal year.

The Rule of Law Trust, also run by Leo, gave $5.8 million via DonorsTrust in 2020.

Beside Leo’s groups, other top contributors to DonorsTrust include #Rebekah #Mercer of Cambridge Analytica and Parler fame,
whose Mercer Family Foundation gave $31 million in 2022.

Mercer and other top contributors to DonorsTrust did not respond to The Intercept’s questions for this article.

Whether from Leo or other sources, conservative money has been already flowing to law schools via DonorsTrust for years, mostly to premiere programs.

Since 2019, #Yale Law School has received $250,000 per year for the “Diversity in Democracy Professorship Fund”;
Yale declined to explain the purpose of this fund or say whether these contributions came from Leo.

New York University Law School received $350,000 in 2021 and $300,000 in 2022 for a libertarian research institute.
#NYU also declined to provide additional details about the source of these contributions.

And since 2020, #Stanford’s student chapter of the Federalist Society received $25,000 per year.
Stanford referred questions to the Federalist Society and DonorsTrust.

There were also millions sent to George Mason University’s #Scalia Law School,
which Leo helped make one of the gravitational centers for conservative legal academia.

Since 2017, Scalia Law School received at least $4 million each year via DonorsTrust,

much of it earmarked for its Law & Economics Center, which puts on often lavish doctrinal bootcamps for judges, one of which was held in Leo’s literal backyard.
https://theintercept.com/2024/05/29/leonard-leo-donor-law-schools/

Leonard Leo typically operates in the background and goes to considerable lengths to cover his philanthropic tracks.

Each year, his groups send millions through #DonorsTrust,
which markets itself as a “principled philanthropic partner for conservative and libertarian donors”
and a means to anonymously fund “sensitive or controversial issues.”

Deep-pocketed benefactors like Leo can tell DonorsTrust where they want their money to ultimately go.

Its board of directors will “always respect grant requests that fall within the DonorsTrust mission and purpose,” per its website.

DonorsTrust declined to discuss the specifics of any contributions identified by The Intercept.

“We do not release to the general public either the names of our accountholders nor specific grants that they may have recommended,” said Lawson #Bader, its president and CEO.

Bader noted that some of the contributions listed on DonorsTrust’s tax filings may have originated from multiple donors.

But Leo’s funding vehicles
— especially the #Marble #Freedom #Trust and the #85Fund,
which he rebranded in 2020 and likely bankrolls via yet another donor-advised fund
— are among the biggest contributors to DonorsTrust.

In 2022, the 85 Fund sent $92 million through DonorsTrust,
more than a quarter of all contributions to DonorsTrust that year.

Marble Freedom Trust has distributed more than $41 million via DonorsTrust, according to a filing for its 2020 fiscal year.

The Rule of Law Trust, also run by Leo, gave $5.8 million via DonorsTrust in 2020.

Beside Leo’s groups, other top contributors to DonorsTrust include #Rebekah #Mercer of Cambridge Analytica and Parler fame,
whose Mercer Family Foundation gave $31 million in 2022.

Mercer and other top contributors to DonorsTrust did not respond to The Intercept’s questions for this article.

Whether from Leo or other sources, conservative money has been already flowing to law schools via DonorsTrust for years, mostly to premiere programs.

Since 2019, #Yale Law School has received $250,000 per year for the “Diversity in Democracy Professorship Fund”;
Yale declined to explain the purpose of this fund or say whether these contributions came from Leo.

New York University Law School received $350,000 in 2021 and $300,000 in 2022 for a libertarian research institute.
#NYU also declined to provide additional details about the source of these contributions.

And since 2020, #Stanford’s student chapter of the Federalist Society received $25,000 per year.
Stanford referred questions to the Federalist Society and DonorsTrust.

There were also millions sent to George Mason University’s #Scalia Law School,
which Leo helped make one of the gravitational centers for conservative legal academia.

Since 2017, Scalia Law School received at least $4 million each year via DonorsTrust,

much of it earmarked for its Law & Economics Center, which puts on often lavish doctrinal bootcamps for judges, one of which was held in Leo’s literal backyard.
https://theintercept.com/2024/05/29/leonard-leo-donor-law-schools/

How ‘History and Tradition’ Rulings Are Changing American Law - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/magazine/history-tradition-law-conservative-judges.html

Changes in the prevailing sound of Kpop girl groups help me understand US conservative constitutional and statutory interpretation. So a couple of years ago I would go onto YouTube and hear tropical house and girl crush shouting; these days, it's the Y2K sound.

Similarly, conservatives used to wax eloquent about "originalism" and "textualism"; now it's "history and tradition".*

In both domains, any search for an overarching explanatory principle beyond group interest is futile.

*No, Antonin Scalia is not turning in his grave, because he too was devoid of principle or decency.

#USPolitics #Jurisprudence #USJudiciary #Conservatism #Scalia

How ‘History and Tradition’ Rulings Are Changing American Law - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/magazine/history-tradition-law-conservative-judges.html

Changes in the prevailing sound of Kpop girl groups help me understand US conservative constitutional and statutory interpretation. So a couple of years ago I would go onto YouTube and hear tropical house and girl crush shouting; these days, it's the Y2K sound.

Similarly, conservatives used to wax eloquent about "originalism" and "textualism"; now it's "history and tradition".*

In both domains, any search for an overarching explanatory principle beyond group interest is futile.

*No, Antonin Scalia is not turning in his grave, because he too was devoid of principle or decency.

#USPolitics #Jurisprudence #USJudiciary #Conservatism #Scalia

The Republican Party, thirsting for more voters in the 1980 Reagan vs Carter election, realized that Southern Baptists had helped give the White House to Carter in 1976 (he’s a Southern Baptist).
If they could just peel those voters away from Carter and the Democratic Party, they believed they could win big.
The issue the Reagan campaign decided to use to bring religious voters to Republicans in that election was #abortion, a topic Jesus never discussed.
Up until that election, both former Governor Reagan and former CIA Director Bush had been open supporters of a woman’s right to choose; in the run-up to the primaries Reagan became an unabashed foe of abortion, and George H.W. Bush changed his position on the issue when he joined the ticket in 1980.
The legacy of those decisions has brought us Trump, Qanon, and badly damaged large parts of what’s left of Christianity in America (church attendance is collapsing).
It’s turned both religion and politics into armed camps.
At the founding of our Republic, if there was any one topic that the Framers of the Constitution were mostly in agreement about, it was 👉 the importance of keeping religion separate from government.
More recently, even uber-Catholic Antonin #Scalia wrote, in the 1990 Employment v Smith case rejecting Native Americans’ petition to overrule federal regulations and legally use peyote (an outlawed substance) for religious purposes:

“The rule respondents favor would open the prospect of constitutionally required religious exemptions from civic obligations of almost every conceivable kind ranging from compulsory military service to the payment of taxes; to health and safety regulation such as manslaughter and child neglect laws, compulsory vaccination laws, drug laws, and traffic laws; to social welfare legislation such as minimum wage laws, child labor laws, animal cruelty laws, environmental protection laws, and laws providing for equality of opportunity for the races. The First Amendment's protection of religious liberty does not require this. …
“To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.”

Don’t tell today’s Republicans that’s a bad thing, though:
👉 Scalia’s list is a good summary of many of the realms they’re currently targeting.
The six Catholic extremist Republicans on the Court appear anxious to overturn any final semblance of secular primacy in law, using religion as their excuse.

https://hartmannreport.com/p/what-would-the-christian-america-e80

The Republican Party, thirsting for more voters in the 1980 Reagan vs Carter election, realized that Southern Baptists had helped give the White House to Carter in 1976 (he’s a Southern Baptist).
If they could just peel those voters away from Carter and the Democratic Party, they believed they could win big.
The issue the Reagan campaign decided to use to bring religious voters to Republicans in that election was #abortion, a topic Jesus never discussed.
Up until that election, both former Governor Reagan and former CIA Director Bush had been open supporters of a woman’s right to choose; in the run-up to the primaries Reagan became an unabashed foe of abortion, and George H.W. Bush changed his position on the issue when he joined the ticket in 1980.
The legacy of those decisions has brought us Trump, Qanon, and badly damaged large parts of what’s left of Christianity in America (church attendance is collapsing).
It’s turned both religion and politics into armed camps.
At the founding of our Republic, if there was any one topic that the Framers of the Constitution were mostly in agreement about, it was 👉 the importance of keeping religion separate from government.
More recently, even uber-Catholic Antonin #Scalia wrote, in the 1990 Employment v Smith case rejecting Native Americans’ petition to overrule federal regulations and legally use peyote (an outlawed substance) for religious purposes:

“The rule respondents favor would open the prospect of constitutionally required religious exemptions from civic obligations of almost every conceivable kind ranging from compulsory military service to the payment of taxes; to health and safety regulation such as manslaughter and child neglect laws, compulsory vaccination laws, drug laws, and traffic laws; to social welfare legislation such as minimum wage laws, child labor laws, animal cruelty laws, environmental protection laws, and laws providing for equality of opportunity for the races. The First Amendment's protection of religious liberty does not require this. …
“To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.”

Don’t tell today’s Republicans that’s a bad thing, though:
👉 Scalia’s list is a good summary of many of the realms they’re currently targeting.
The six Catholic extremist Republicans on the Court appear anxious to overturn any final semblance of secular primacy in law, using religion as their excuse.

https://hartmannreport.com/p/what-would-the-christian-america-e80

#Uvalde #2A #Scalia

#ClarenceThomas spoke that year as well. He talked about his friend Justice #Scalia, who had recently died, acc/to a person who attended. Scalia, a #conservative luminary, had been a prominent advocate for the #Chevron doctrine, but Thomas said he believed his colleague was coming around to Thomas’ revised view on it before his death.

Thomas didn’t explain what he meant by that. “It was an aside,” the person said, “like he assumed most of the people in the room knew his position.”

#ClarenceThomas spoke that year as well. He talked about his friend Justice #Scalia, who had recently died, acc/to a person who attended. Scalia, a #conservative luminary, had been a prominent advocate for the #Chevron doctrine, but Thomas said he believed his colleague was coming around to Thomas’ revised view on it before his death.

Thomas didn’t explain what he meant by that. “It was an aside,” the person said, “like he assumed most of the people in the room knew his position.”

#JudgeCannon Gifted Luxury Trip by #Leo -Backed #Scalia Law School https://accountable.us/judge-cannon-gifted-luxury-trip-by-leo-backed-scalia-law-school/

Ok. Watching #Taxi (2004; #QueenLatifah and #JimmyFallon) and the suspicious garbage man is "Anthony" #Scalia.

#Coincidence?
#Rule39
#ThereAreNoCoincidences

Ok. Watching #Taxi (2004; #QueenLatifah and #JimmyFallon) and the suspicious garbage man is "Anthony" #Scalia.

#Coincidence?
#Rule39
#ThereAreNoCoincidences

#msnbc #LindseyReiser ask Brian Fitzpatrick #btfitzpat whether he knew of Scalia's hunting trips paid for by billionaires ? Ask Fitzpatrick about the ETHICS ..the dearth of ETHICS displayed by #SCALIA while he was clerking for him. Is that okay? No. Did Brian go on those trips?

#msnbc #LindseyReiser ask Brian Fitzpatrick #btfitzpat whether he knew of Scalia's hunting trips paid for by billionaires ? Ask Fitzpatrick about the ETHICS ..the dearth of ETHICS displayed by #SCALIA while he was clerking for him. Is that okay? No. Did Brian go on those trips?

doin' a bribes BRB

#Scalia #supremecourt

Culture of Court corruption: Justice Scalia took lots of undisclosed gifts from years
https://www.rawstory.com/dem-senator-scalia-accepted-over-70-undisclosed-gifts-similar-to-clarence-thomas-2659949793/
#supremecourt #corruption #politics #scalia #-

How #Scalia #LawSchool Became a Key Friend of the #SCOTUS #GeorgeMason Uni law school cultivated ties to justices w generous pay, unusual perks. In turn it gained prestige donations #influence. docs show how Scalia Law has offered justices safe space in polarized DC academic cocoon filled w friends and former clerks, where their legal views are celebrated, they are given top pay and treated to teaching trips abroad, and their personal needs are anticipated. #Corruption https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/30/us/supreme-court-scalia-law-school.html

How #Scalia #LawSchool Became a Key Friend of the #SCOTUS #GeorgeMason Uni law school cultivated ties to justices w generous pay, unusual perks. In turn it gained prestige donations #influence. docs show how Scalia Law has offered justices safe space in polarized DC academic cocoon filled w friends and former clerks, where their legal views are celebrated, they are given top pay and treated to teaching trips abroad, and their personal needs are anticipated. #Corruption https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/30/us/supreme-court-scalia-law-school.html

Back when Scalia rewrote the Second Amendment in the Heller decision in 2008, many people suspected this was the path we were now on.

Sucks to be right.

#Heller#GunControl #Scalia #GunViolence

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/11-injured-most-from-gunfire-amid-chaos-surrounding-south-carolina-park-party/ar-AA1awOTx?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=144e6726e144457fc4edb1736e9a538f&ei=5

@jackiegardina
I am thinking the advise he got was from #Scalia since all of #clarencethomas ' opinion briefs consisted of three words. "What He Said."

@jackiegardina
I am thinking the advise he got was from #Scalia since all of #clarencethomas ' opinion briefs consisted of three words. "What He Said."

@rosnovsky #Assaultweapons were banned before. We don’t need to repeal 2A, we just need a #scotus that will interpret it with more common sense than #scalia & #alito scum. The #nationalguard is a well-regulated militia. 2A ? ✅

#massshooting #louisville this time. #guns #guncontrolnow

@rosnovsky #Assaultweapons were banned before. We don’t need to repeal 2A, we just need a #scotus that will interpret it with more common sense than #scalia & #alito scum. The #nationalguard is a well-regulated militia. 2A ? ✅

#massshooting #louisville this time. #guns #guncontrolnow

Why does anyone respect judicial opinions? Opinions are like assholes: everyone has one, and most of them stink! And judges who don’t touch their anus because “that’s gay” smell like diarrhea for obvious reasons. #Scalia