Ginni Thomas, the wife of United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, and Leonard Leo, the co-chairman of the Federalist Society's Board of Directors, were working behind the scenes with the support of a controversial billionaire benefactor prior to SCOTUS' Citizen's United ruling, Politico's Heidi Pryzbyla reports.
That decision, Pryzbyla recalls, "loosened restrictions on campaign spending and unleashed a flow of anonymous donor money to nonprofit groups run by political activists. In the months before the ruling dropped in January of that year, a group of conservative activists came together to create just such an organization. Its mission would be to, at the time, block then-President Barack Obama's pet initiatives."
Pryzbyla continues, "She also had a rich backer: Harlan Crow, the manufacturing billionaire who had helped Thomas and her husband in many ways, from funding luxury vacations to picking up tuition payments for their great-nephew."
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According to one person with knowledge of what transpired, "Ginni really wanted to build an organization and be a movement leader," adding, "Leonard [Leo] was going to be the conduit of that."
Pryzbyla explains, "At the time, the Citizens United ruling was widely expected, as the court had already signaled its intentions. When it came, it upended nearly 100 years of campaign spending restrictions. The conservative legal movement seized the moment with greater success than any other group, and the consequences have shaped American jurisprudence and politics in dramatic ways."
Between September 2009 and February 2010, Pryzbyla lays out how "Leo, Thomas, and Crow would spring a billion-dollar force that has helped remake the judiciary and overturn longstanding legal precedents on abortion, affirmative action, and many other issues. It funded legal scholars to devise theories to challenge liberal precedents, helped to elect state attorneys general willing to apply those theories, and launched lavish campaigns for conservative judicial nominees who would cite those theories in their rulings from the bench."
Pryzbyla adds, "Leo's role as the central figure in this movement has long been known, culminating in his acquisition last year of what many believe to be the largest political donation in history. Few are aware of the extent to which the movement's baby steps were taken in concert with Ginni Thomas. Two months before the Citizens United decision, but after the justices had signaled their intentions by requesting new arguments, attorney Cleta Mitchell — later to play a role in Donald Trump's false claims about the 2020 elections — filed papers for Ginni Thomas to create a nonprofit group of a type that ultimately benefited from the decision. Leo was one of two directors listed on a separate application to conduct business in the state of Virginia. Thomas was president. She signed it on New Year's Eve of 2009, and Crow provided much of the initial cash. A key Leo aide, Sarah Field, would come aboard to help Thomas manage the group, which they called Liberty Central."