@grrlscientist " in the last resort, a remedy must be obtained
from the people, who can, by the election of
more faithful representatives, annul the acts
of the usurpers " -- "The Federalist," number 44, by James Madison
#Federalist
Pentagon Proudly Announces Its New Stable Of Propagandists
Every Legitimate News Agency Leaves The Pentagon Rather Than Agree To Act As Pete Hegseth’s Stenographer
While every liberal is toasting #NoKings day as an affront to #Drumpf
#ProPublica , Politico and others concede that the nation's actual cut throat commander in brief and deed is hardcore #RWNJ and avowed #ChristianNationalist #Federalist feudalist #OMB strategist #RussVought
Under his direction, the US has cut billions in so-called #humanitarian federal spending on things that irked #Libertarians like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and even #PresidentReagan's own initiatives like our now defunded #NGO created under his tutelage known as the #InstituteofPeace
https://www.youtube.com/embed/w1LuV82l0vs
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/18/the-king-of-the-shutdown-00614718
The only thing that really is out of control in #WashingtonDC is an orange-tinted buffoon with zero respect or regard for the #constitution and the rights of states or large cities.
There was a time when the #GOP was strongly #federalist so governors in rural areas and the Bible belt could simply ignore rulings from upper levels of the administration.
Under #Trump and #MAGA, all reason and principles have been disposed of. #democracy and the #ruleoflaw are under attack. #resist #UnitedStates
The courts are helpless not because of #47 - but because of the #Federalist ideologues, especially at #SCOTUS who ruled that "official" acts are privileged abuses of the #Constitution, that may not be challenged, and court orders may not be enforced.
Ever wonder what a website would look like if it were designed by neoclassical architect Charles Bulfinch? According to a recent WebHeads United post, it would feature a classical color scheme of red, white, and blue, with gold or black accents. The layout would be a grid-based, with a clear hierarchy of information, and the overall feel would be one of elegance, symmetry, and balance.
Read more here: https://webheadsunited.com/charles-bulfinch-designed-or-inspired-a-website/
@jalefkowit " in the last resort, a remedy must be obtained
from the people, who can, by the election of
more faithful representatives, annul the acts
of the usurpers " -- "The Federalist," number 44, by James Madison
An hour after staff were informed, Secy of #State #MarcoRubio published a blog announcing the news on the #Federalist, one of the outlets that sued #GEC over allegations of *censorship*. He then discussed in an interview w/ #RightWing Internet personality #MikeBenz plans for #DarrenBeattie to lead a “transparency effort.”
“What we have to do now—& Darren will be big involved in that…is…document what happened…because…people who were harmed deserve to know…,& be able to prove…they were harmed.”
" in the last resort, a remedy must be obtained
from the people, who can, by the election of
more faithful representatives, annul the acts
of the usurpers " -- "The Federalist," number 44, by James Madison
The Maga legal networks that could 💥topple Planned Parenthood 💥and gut women’s healthcare:
In the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency,
a young lawyer with crisply shorn blond hair approached the podium at a gathering for Texas members of the Federalist Society,
a conservative legal group that wields immense power in the US judicial system.
As vice-president of the group’s Fort Worth chapter, #Matthew #Kacsmaryk had the honor of presenting the first speaker.
“We are blessed to have Judge #Edith #Jones,” Kacsmaryk announced.
Jones, a longtime judge on the US fifth circuit court of appeals,
stepped on stage to introduce the evening’s guest, her friend,
the supreme court justice #Clarence #Thomas.
In her introduction, Jones also hailed the four new conservative judges Trump had appointed to join her on the appeals court.
“They’ve raised the bar for the fifth circuit since I got on,” she said. “And that’s thanks to the #Federalist #Society, to Leonard.”
#Leonard #Leo needed no last name in his introduction to this crowd
as he took his seat in a black leather chair across from Thomas.
The justice was the featured speaker
but Leo may have been the most important person in the American legal system in that room
– a conservative activist who had built the Federalist Society into a political powerhouse
and helped Trump create the supreme court majority that,
in 2022, erased federal protections for abortion.
His influence continues to be on display now in one of the most consequential cases moving through the American legal system
– one that seeks to strike another blow to abortion rights
💥and could possibly bankrupt Planned Parenthood,
one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare for women.
It’s a lawsuit that has been filed by an anti-abortion activist tied to Leo and heard by judges
– from the lower courts to the fifth circuit appeals court
– who are also linked to Leo
Three of the people on the stage at the Federalist Society event in Fort Worth in 2018
– Kacsmaryk, Jones and Leo
– have all played key roles in the case.
Though the stakes in this case couldn’t be higher for one of the nation’s oldest healthcare providers,
it is about more than abortion or healthcare.
The lawsuit is a parable about Leo’s power amid a presidential election season
whose outcome will probably determine to what extent Leo will continue to reshape the makeup and ideology of the nation’s courts.
The case was filed in February 2021 by an anti-abortion activist
who had conducted what he described as an
“extensive undercover investigation” of the organization.
He accuses Planned Parenthood of fraud
– claiming that it owes $1.8bn in fines, fees and reimbursements to the Medicaid program.
It’s an amount that could force the 108-year-old nonprofit healthcare provider to shutter clinics across the country.
The lawsuit is titled
"USA v Planned Parenthood"
because it was filed under a federal whistleblower law
that allows citizens to sue on behalf of the US government
over allegations that federal programs have been defrauded.
It is the latest in a series of legal actions that started in 2015
after Texas’s health officials used footage from the activist’s hidden-camera recordings as a basis to expel Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program.
The activist and his allies claimed the videos showed Planned Parenthood was illegally selling fetal tissue and endangering pregnant people’s health.
Planned Parenthood repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Investigations in multiple states triggered by the video resulted in no disciplinary action against the healthcare provider.
The US government
– the source of 90% of the Medicaid funds paid to Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas
– disputes that Planned Parenthood owes the federal government money.
Federal officials say in a court filing that they found no evidence that Planned Parenthood had improperly billed for its services
and that they found no reason Planned Parenthood should have been removed from Medicaid.
Experts in healthcare law expected the case to be dismissed quickly.
Yet none of these facts are as important to understanding the significance of this case as knowing where it was filed:
in the federal courthouse in Amarillo, Texas
– home to zero Planned Parenthood clinics.
This wasn’t an accident.
The US district court in Amarillo is under the purview of the US fifth circuit court of appeals,
making it likely that any upward appeals in Planned Parenthood’s case would be heard in the hard-right appeals court,
including by judges appointed by Trump or other conservative stalwarts like Jones.
And by the time the Planned Parenthood case was filed, Kacsmaryk
– that young attorney on stage making introductions at the Federalist Society event in Texas
– had been serving as the federal district court judge for Amarillo for nearly two years.
I just voted no for every #Federalist Society judge on my #ballot. Your state's official #court website will have their membership on display.
Do your public duty & kick these #christofascists to the curb.
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/
♦️Edgar Uihlein Jr.’s second child, #Dick, born in 1945, grew up in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Lake Bluff and got the same sort of blue-blood education
(Phillips Andover, Stanford)
as his father (Hotchkiss, Princeton).
Amid the social upheavals of the ’60s, #Dick #Uihlein didn’t waver:
He married Liz before graduating from college in 1967,
joined the family business and immersed himself in conservative politics.
He worked on the 1969 Illinois congressional campaign of Phil Crane, who won a crowded Republican primary in an upset on a hardline anti-tax and anti-communist platform.
In one of the only interviews he’s ever given, Dick Uihlein told National Review in 2018 that he got his politics from his father,
who often went by Ed.
At the family breakfast table growing up, Uihlein recalled,
“My father would talk about the importance of capitalism and the evils of socialism.”
Dick said that same year that
“my father shared many of the same values that I have, conservative values.”
Dick and Liz Uihlein continue to revere Edgar Jr., who died in 2005.
Dick Uihlein named the family foundation after his father, and it now sends♦️ tens of millions of dollars to right-wing institutions.
Among the recipients of the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation’s grants are the
♦️ #Federalist #Society and think tanks that have pushed misleading claims about the 2020 election, such as the #Conservative #Partnership #Institute
and the
#Foundation #for #Government #Accountability,
as the Daily Beast reported.
Tucked in toward the back of the Uline catalog released this summer,
sent out to millions of homes and businesses,
was a long tribute to the “wise” Edgar Uihlein Jr.
“Father Uihlein, the head of the family, had a towering presence, and we respected his values,” wrote Liz Uihlein under a picture of her husband and father-in-law,
recalling “frequent dinners at his house, where business, issues of the day, fishing muskies and, always, politics were discussed.”
She ended on a note of nostalgia tinged with bitterness:
“Living your life and raising your kids were easier in an easier time.
There was no legalized marijuana, defund the police or social media.
We, like so many families, were raised with a sharp moral compass.
The rules were the rules, but it was OK.”
The Uihleins’ political giving reflects these longings for a bygone era.
Dick Uihlein is a major funder of the #American #Principles #Project,
which runs ads attacking what it calls “#transgender #ideology,” #abortion and the teaching of “#critical #race #theory.”
Last year, Uihlein weighed in on ♦️recalling four school board members in a small town north of Milwaukee because of their support for COVID-19 #safety #protocols and “#equity” training for teachers.
More recently, in his home state of Illinois, Uihlein has spent more than♦️ $50 million to back the Republican gubernatorial candidate #Darren #Bailey, who has drawn criticism for saying the #Holocaust “doesn’t even compare” to the toll of abortions and for accusing Democrats of “putting #perversion into our schools” for adopting a sex ed bill that includes information about gender identity and same-sex couples.
The Uihleins were huge beneficiaries of a tax provision promoted by Sen. #Ron #Johnson, R-Wisc., that was included in the Trump tax overhaul and are continuing to support the Wisconsin senator and fund attack ads against his opponent.
For all the Uihleins’ dismay at the disorder they see consuming the country, there is one domain where they can exert near total control.
Former employees of Uline told ProPublica the couple’s traditionalist politics govern the smallest details of how the company is run.
For new staffers, it begins with the #dress #code in the employee handbook:
Women are not permitted to wear pants except as part of a pantsuit or on Fridays;
hose or stockings must be worn except during the warmer months;
dresses “that are too short” and corduroy of any kind are strictly prohibited.
The handbook defines “tardy” as one minute past an employee’s scheduled start time.
Just four personal items are allowed on employees’ desks,
with maximum dimensions of 5 inches by 7 inches.
One former staffer at Uline’s headquarters recalled a coworker who was forced to remove several drawings done by his young child.
“Liz would walk up and down the aisles, and if your desk looked off, you’d be written up,” he recalled.
#Uline #Dick #Liz #Uihlein #Doug #Mastriano #Jim #Marchant #election #falsehoods #antisemitic #speech #Edgar #John #Birch #Society #fluoridation #segregation #Edwin #Walker #George #Wallace
#Leonard #Leo, the conservative activist with an estimated
💥 $1 billion at his disposal,
is threatening to withhold money from the dozens of groups he supports 👉 unless they develop plans to "weaponize" their ideas.
Why it matters:
Leo's call for conservative groups to get #more #aggressive will send shockwaves through the right-wing ecosystem he helped create.
Leo wants less conversation and more action
— fewer seminars and more campaigns
— as part of a plan to
♦️"crush liberal dominance at the choke points of influence and power in our society,"
he told the groups in a letter obtained by Axios.
The goal should be to direct "funding🔸 to operationalize or weaponize the conservative vision," Leo wrote.
Zoom in:
Leo, 59, is telling organizations backed by his #85Fund that he's undertaking a
"comprehensive review" of his grant-making process.
His letter doesn't mention any specific groups by name, but they know who they are.
Groups such as Teneo,
Honest Elections Project,
Consumers's Research and
Do No Harm
are examples of organizations that have adopted
the kind of #aggressive #tactics Leo encourages, according to a source close to the 85 Fund.
Those groups have run campaigns that have achieved measurable results, such as
Consumers' Research's work on ESG investing,
which has been featured in congressional hearings.
Decisions about future funding will be shared with the groups by the end of November, Leo's letter said.
Zoom out:
Leo helped build the #Federalist #Society, an organization for conservative law students,
into an incubator for lawyers and judges that reshape the federal judiciary and American society.
He helped former President Trump select three conservative jurists for the Supreme Court
— Neil #Gorsuch, Brett #Kavanaugh and Amy Coney #Barrett.
They've transformed federal law on issues ranging from #abortion #rights (overturning Roe v. Wade) to #federal #rule-#making.
In 2022, the New York Times revealedhow a nonprofit Leo controls,
the #Marble #Freedom #Trust, received a ⭐️$1.6 billion contribution from a conservative donor, #Barre #Seid,
who gifted the shares of the company he founded before they were sold.
Leo has an estimated
⭐️$1 billion left to spend,
according to the Financial Times.
Leo, who is credited with the initial $1.6 billion windfall to Marble Freedom Trust, has been responsible for raising donations and support for the 85 Fund.
Between the lines:
Behind Leo's new push is his admiration for what he views as successes of progressive nonprofit groups
such as The #Wyss #Foundation and the
#Berger #Action #Fund,
supported by #Hansjörg #Wyss.
Leo is also convinced that liberal organizations and ideas have captured most influential institutions in government,
media, entertainment and academia.
"They invested in talent pipelines to populate the power centers inside government,
where policy would be implemented,"
Leo writes.
"They incubated litigation as a means of leveraging the law to produce change."
The other side:
As Leo's prominence and influence have increased,
his methods and his conservative network have drawn scrutiny
— and provoked outrage
— in progressive circles.
https://www.axios.com/2024/09/12/leonard-leo-conservative-groups-funding
John Roberts is well aware of the Supreme Court's credibility problems, but he doesn't want to fix it by a code of conduct -- he wants to fix it by cosy interviews with journalists
#voting #rights #election #John #Roberts #Shelby #County #antidemocratic #voting #laws #David #Daley #Federalist #Society #bankrolling #fringe #theories
Equal parts "Dark Money" and "Democracy in Chains",
Minority Rule is a riveting yet disturbing history of the fifty-year Republican plot to
💥hijack #voting #rights in America,
💥its profound implications for the 2024 #presidential #election,
💥and the crucial role that Chief Justice #John #Roberts has played in determining how we vote.
In 1981, a young lawyer, fresh out of Harvard law school, joined the Reagan administration's Department of Justice,
taking up a cause that had been fomenting in Republican circles for over a decade by that point.
From his perch inside the Reagan DOJ,
this lawyer would attempt to bring down one of the defining pieces of 20th century legislation
— the Voting Rights Act.
His name was John Roberts.
Over thirty years later in 2013, these efforts by John Roberts and the conservative legal establishment culminated when Roberts,
now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
wrote #Shelby #County vs. Holder,
one of the most consequential decisions of modern jurisprudence.
A dramatic move that gutted the Voting Rights Act,
Roberts's decision
— dangerously premised on the flawed notion that racism was a thing of the past
— emboldened right-wing, #antidemocratic #voting #laws around the country immediately.
No modern court decision has done more to hand elections to Republicans than Shelby.
Now lauded investigative reporter #David #Daley reveals the urgent story of this 🆘fifty-year Republican plot to end the Voting Rights Act and encourage minority rule in their party's favor.
From the bowels of Reagan's DOJ to the walls of the conservative #Federalist #Society to the moneyed Republican resources #bankrolling restrictive voting laws today,
Daley reveals a hidden history as sweeping as it is troubling.
Through careful research and exhaustive reporting, he connects Shelby to 🔥a well-funded, highly-coordinated right-wing effort to erode the power of minority voters and Democrats at the ballot box
— an effort that has grown stronger with each election cycle.
In the process Roberts and his conservative allies have enabled #fringe conservative #theories about our elections with the potential to shape the 2024 election and topple the foundations of our democracy.
Timely and alarming, Daley offers a powerful message that, while Shelby was the misguided end of the Voting Rights Act, it was also the beginning of something far darker.
Why #YaleLaw Is So Good at Producing Reactionaries Like #JDVance. The tiny, liberal program accounts for a surprising number of #conservative #politicians and #SupremeCourt #justices. unpaywalled https://archive.is/VmzgA#selection-1357.0-1363.114 #constitution #democracy #courts #legalresearch #justice #reactionaries #GOP #MAGA #federalist society #heritagefoundation
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