Source: In Gorsuch, Conservative Activist Sees Test Case for Reshaping the Judiciary – The New York Times
This article in today’s New York Times is about the Federalist Society, a deeply conservative and deceitful organization that seeks to put their kind of judges on the federal court benches. Judges who, like Scalia, would do great damage to real people’s lives in favor of corporations. (Ref: the Neu Wannsee Conference, i.e., the Koch Bros Final Solution to Democracy.)
Notice how secretive these people are. They want to control our lives from a well-appointed bunker underneath the Supreme Court. A few distressing excerpts:
[Leonard Leo, executive VP of the Federalist Society] sits at the nexus of an immensely influential but largely unseen network of conservative organizations, donors and lawyers who all share a common goal: Fill the federal courts with scores of judges who are committed to the narrow interpretation of the Constitution that they believe the founders intended.
“The Supreme Court needs to be an institution that helps to undergird limited constitutional government,” said Mr. Leo, 51, whose cerebral, unassuming demeanor belies the enormous clout he has developed in Washington.
And we all understand the code, “limited constitutional government:” no constitutional protections for our individual rights (especially women’s and minority rights) because they want the government, i.e., the Constitution, out of the way of big business machinations. I’m bolding some of the boldest names that operate this thing.
It is a worldview that has brought Mr. Leo and his allies together with a range of conservative players. In addition to major corporate backers such as Google and Chevron, the Federalist Society’s supporters include well-known industry-oriented and libertarian-minded business leaders like Charles G. and David H. Koch; the family foundation of Richard Mellon Scaife; and the Mercer family, which gave significantly to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign and helped start Breitbart News.
This judicial reformation is being coordinated from Washington by a relatively small team closely aligned around Mr. Leo, who is on leave from the Federalist Society while he helps the White House shepherd the Gorsuch nomination. The network includes John G. Malcolm of the Heritage Foundation and Ann Corkery, a Washington lawyer who along with her husband, Neil, oversees the Judicial Crisis Network and related dark-money groups that also support the cause.
These are the very rich puppeteers who pull the strings of judges like Neil Gorsuch.
Judge Gorsuch, 49, is their first test case, with his confirmation hearing set to begin on Monday — but the conservative activists say more is at stake than just the Supreme Court.
“Make no mistake,” Mr. Leo said in a speech last month at the Ronald Reagan Dinner at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “How we deal with this vacancy now, the strength that we as the pro-Constitution movement demonstrate in this fight, will determine the extent to which we are able to both nominate and confirm pro-Constitution judges as we move forward.”
We? What do you mean “we,” Mr. Leo? You are not us–We the People. You head a disingenuous organization that propounds anachronistic beliefs, that seeks to regress our country back to the 1850s.
Mr. Leo slipped up with that statement. He’s telling all of us that his organization and its supporters believe they control the courts and the Constitution. Another reason to oppose the Gorsuch nomination.