Federalist Society co-chair tied to 'dark money group' trying to 'preempt federal wealth tax'

Although Democratic nominees have won the popular vote in seven of the United States' last eight presidential races, two-thirds of the U.S. Supreme Court consists of justices nominated by Republican presidents. One activist who can take a lot of credit for the High Court's shift to the far right is Leonard Leo, former executive vice president of the Federalist Society.

Leo helped select all three of former President Donald Trump's Supreme Court appointees: Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. And he remains a prominent figure in the right-wing judicial movement, still co-chairing the Federalist Society while heading his consulting firm CRC Advisors.

In a report published by Rolling Stone on April 29, journalists Andrew Perez and Adam Rawnsley describe the connection between CRC, billionaire Charles Koch's political network and a "dark-money group that is currently arguing a Supreme Court case designed to preempt a wealth tax."

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"Like many consulting firms," Perez and Rawnsley explain, "CRC does not publicly disclose its clients. However, several of the firm's clients were named in resumes that applicants submitted to an online jobs bank hosted by the Conservative Partnership Institute, which accidentally left the files exposed online. One CRC employee's 2024 resume says his clients include the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a dark-money group arguing a case before the Supreme Court this term that is designed to slam the door shut on a federal wealth tax. Experts say the case could upend the nation's tax code."

The Rolling Stone journalists note that the CRC employee's resume shows the person has "also worked for the Koch network's political advocacy arm, Americans for Prosperity."

Leo's judicial activities led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Jackson v. Women's Health Organization — ashe specifically recommended Supreme Court nominees he thought would favor that outcome.

Caroline Ciccone, president of the watchdog group Accountable.US, told Rolling Stone, "It's no surprise that Leonard Leo's for-profit consulting firm — which has pulled down a whopping $100 million from Leo's own nonprofit network — counts the Koch network and the group leading the Supreme Court billionaire bailout case as clients. We knew that Leo's fingerprints were all over these far-right causes, but now, it appears he's directly profiting off of them, too."

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Ciccone adds, "There's no cause Leo won't take up if it means he'll profit."

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Read Rolling Stone's full report at this link (subscription required).