Tag: Leonard Leo

The Senate’s Supreme Court Subpoena Games
Business

The Senate’s Supreme Court Subpoena Games

Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin has reached the age and tenure at which he might fancy himself a Lion of the Senate, but what a joke after his grubby power play Thursday in the Judiciary Committee. In a rush of rule-breaking at the end of a meeting, Mr. Durbin moved to bluster through subpoenas for two friends of Supreme Court Justices on a partisan vote.This is part of a Democratic political campaign to portray the High Court as a trinket bought by billionaires. Without finding any substantive legal conflict of interest, the press has played up reports that Justice Clarence Thomas took vacations with an old friend, Harlan Crow. “The pair have become genuine friends, according to people who know both men,” as even the left-leaning ProPublica admitted. Under the rules at the time, such trave...
Senate Committee Approves Subpoenas In SCOTUS Ethics Probe
Politics

Senate Committee Approves Subpoenas In SCOTUS Ethics Probe

After a combative two-hour hearing, the Senate judiciary committee on Thursday approved subpoenas to compel the appearance of billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow and conservative legal activist Leonard Leo.Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the chairman, bypassed 177 amendments filed by Republicans and abruptly held the vote in response to a last-minute GOP effort to thwart the entire process. Every Republican walked out of the hearing as soon as the vote began. The final tally was 11 Democrats voting yes to the subpoenas, no Republicans voting at all.Crow, a Texas real estate magnate, became the focus of scrutiny after reports by ProPublica revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas did not disclose millions of dollars in gifts Crow gave him in the form of luxury travel and accommodation, real e...
Senate Committee to Subpoena Supreme Court Justices’ Conservative Benefactors 
World

Senate Committee to Subpoena Supreme Court Justices’ Conservative Benefactors 

Updated Nov. 30, 2023 5:30 pm ETWASHINGTON—The Senate Judiciary Committee approved subpoenas for two conservative power brokers who have helped provide luxury travel for two Supreme Court justices, as majority Democrats said they would press ahead with their ethics investigation of the court despite the code of conduct the justices issued in November. “Today’s vote to issue subpoenas to Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo—two individuals who have refused to comply with this committee’s legitimate oversight requests for months and are at the center of the Supreme Court’s ethical crisis—furthers that goal,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), the committee chairman, said after the vote Thursday.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 ...
Will Republicans Defend the Supreme Court?
Business

Will Republicans Defend the Supreme Court?

Senate Democrats can’t accept that the Supreme Court no longer does their policy bidding, so they’re trying to discredit it. The latest effort is a subpoena threat against the friends of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.Led by Sheldon Whitehouse and his spokesman Dick Durbin, the Judiciary Committee has been threatening subpoenas against Harlan Crow, Leonard Leo and Robin Arkley II. Their supposed crime: bestowing “lavish, undisclosed gifts” on the Justices, enabling “private access to the justices” while “preventing public scrutiny,” and contributing to a Supreme Court “ethical crisis of its own making.” Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8