{"id":2218868,"date":"2024-04-11T19:52:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T23:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leonard-leo-says-hes-not-capitulating-after-durbin-subpoena\/"},"modified":"2024-04-11T19:57:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T23:57:42","slug":"leonard-leo-says-hes-not-capitulating-after-durbin-subpoena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leonard-leo-says-hes-not-capitulating-after-durbin-subpoena\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonard Leo remains steadfast after Durbin issues subpoena"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fleonard-leo-says-hes-not-capitulating-after-durbin-subpoena%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2218868&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Leonard Leo, co-Chairman of the Federalist Society, faces a subpoena from \u200bSenator Dick Durbin for his alleged involvement in Supreme Court ethics issues. Leo, adamant in \u2064his \u200cstance, denounces the \u200bsubpoena as politically driven. The situation underscores tensions \u2063between political parties and\u200d highlights\u200c concerns over judicial influence\u200d and transparency. Leonard Leo, co-Chairman of the Federalist Society, is confronted with a subpoena from Senator Dick\u200b Durbin regarding his \u2064purported\u200d role in Supreme Court ethics \u2062matters. Leo \u200dfirmly\u200d rejects\u2062 the subpoena as politically \u2063motivated. This incident accentuates political\u200c divides and raises questions\u200c about the balance \u2062of power and openness within the judicial system.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>EXCLUSIVE \u2014 <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/federalist-society\/\">Federalist Society<\/a> co-Chairman Leonard Leo said Thursday he is \u201cnot capitulating\u201d after he announced Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dick-durbin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Dick Durbin<\/a> (D-IL) filed a subpoena against him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, I received an unlawful and politically motivated subpoena from U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin,\u201d Leo said in a statement obtained by the <em>Washington Examiner. <\/em>Last November, the Democratic-led committee held a vote to authorize subpoenas for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/republican-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GOP<\/a> megadonor Harlan Crow and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/federalist-society\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Federalist Society<\/a> co-chairman, the latter of which has long been criticized by liberal activists for his role in influencing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">federal judiciary<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>FILE \u2013 In this Nov. 16, 2016 file photo, Federalist Society Executive Vice President Leonard Leo speaks to media at Trump Tower in New York. Leo is advising President Donald Trump on his Supreme Court nominee. (AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Durbin accused Leo of playing a \u201ccentral role in the ethics crisis plaguing the Supreme Court and, unlike the other recipients of information requests in this matter, he has\u00a0done nothing but stonewall\u00a0the\u00a0Committee,\u201d calling the subpoena a result of Leo\u2019s \u201cown actions and choices,\u201d according to a statement shared with the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic-led committee has been looking to gain access to documents from Crow and Leo to aid its investigation into allegations of unethical financial gifts and potential conflicts of interest posed by personal ties between Supreme Court justices and billionaire donors and activists.<\/p>\n<p>Durbin also accused Leo of making multiple \u201cblanket\u201d refusals to cooperate with \u201clegitimate oversight requests\u201d since July 2023.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., confers with staff during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 27, 2022, to review of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/steps-the-u-s-can-take-to-defend-against-chinas-missiles\/\" title=\"Steps the U.S. Can Take to Defend Against China\u2019s Missiles\">fiscal year 2023 budget request<\/a> for the U.S. Department of State. (AP Photo\/Mariam Zuhaib)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cHis outright defiance left the Committee with no other choice but to move forward with compulsory process. For that reason, I have issued a subpoena to\u00a0Mr.\u00a0Leo,\u201d Durbin added in his statement.<\/p>\n<p>David Rivkin, an attorney for Leo, wrote in an eight-page letter dated Oct. 19 that they previously put forward \u201cclear and detailed reasons\u201d as to why the committee\u2019s inquiry constituted a form of \u201cpolitical retaliation in violation of the First Amendment and Equal Protection component of the Due Process Clause.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the reason previously set forth, Mr. Leo is not complying with the Democrat Senate Judiciary Committee members\u2019 unlawful and politically motivated subpoena,\u201d Rivkin wrote to Durbin in a letter on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Leo said Thursday he will not capitulate to Durbin and his \u201clawless support of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and the left\u2019s dark money effort to silence and cancel political opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After Leo made his vow to defy the subpoena, aides from both the Republican minority and Democratic-led majority on the committee voiced contradicting opinions on whether the subpoena is even authorized and enforceable.<\/p>\n<p>In November, the Democratic-led committee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2432687\/senate-judiciary-committee-to-vote-on-subpoenas-of-harlan-crow-and-leonard-leo-this-week\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"canceled at least two planned votes\">canceled at least two planned votes<\/a> to subpoena both Crow and Leo in the face of intense Republican opposition to the majority\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bannons-attempt-to-have-contempt-of-congress-charges-tossed-rejected-by-judge\/\" title=\"Bannon\u2019s Attempt to Have Contempt of Congress Charges Tossed Rejected By Judge\">committee canceled<\/a> one vote the week of Nov. 16, the same week the Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/courts\/supreme-court-will-adopt-formal-ethics-code\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">adopted an ethics code<\/a> for the first time following months of intense scrutiny after the nonprofit outlet <em>ProPublica <\/em>reported on Justice Clarence Thomas\u2019s lavish vacations financed by Crow.<\/p>\n<p>But on Nov. 30, the subpoenas for Crow and Leo were voted on by 11 Democratic senators, while no Republican senators on the committee voted. GOP members walked out of the committee room during the vote after it became clear Durbin would not allow votes on any GOP amendments.<\/p>\n<p>An aide for Durbin told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that while the senator \u201ccertainly\u00a0expects\u00a0the subject\u00a0to\u00a0acknowledge\u00a0the gravity of a congressional subpoena,\u201d there are \u201coptions available to the\u00a0Senate\u00a0to enforce\u00a0a\u00a0subpoena\u00a0in the event of noncompliance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, a spokeswoman for the Republican minority on the committee, Taylor Reidy, argued that Durbin failed to authorize the subpoena back in November because Democrats voted while no Republican members were present.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSenate Judiciary Democrats tried and were unsuccessful to authorize a subpoena back in November. The document issued today is invalid,\u201d Reidy said.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Justice Samuel Alito &#038; Justice Clarence Thomas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Following the reports on Thomas that began in April 2023, subsequent reporting from <em>ProPublica <\/em>came out regarding Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/samuel-alito\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Samuel Alito<\/a>, revealing that Alito\u00a0was offered a flight on billionaire Paul Singer\u2019s plane for a fishing trip to Alaska in 2008. A separate report from the <em>Associated Press <\/em>last year revealed Justice Sonia Sotomayor\u2019s staff had prodded colleges and libraries to purchase her books.<\/p>\n<p>Despite outrage by Democrats over the personal activities of Republican-appointed justices Thomas and Alito, none of the alleged conflicts of interest against the high court members appear to have influenced their written opinions.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the subpoena against Leo comes less than two months after <em>ProPublica <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/why-hasnt-senate-judiciary-subpoenaed-harlan-crow-leonard-leo-scotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"published\">published<\/a> a report titled: \u201cWhy haven\u2019t Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo Been Subpoenaed?\u201d The nonprofit outlet, which has a history of being funded by donors with left-of-center politics, has been responsible for much of Democrats\u2019 outrage over purported conflicts of interest at the high court.<\/p>\n<p>The committee\u2019s subpoena also comes less than a week after Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb quietly closed an investigation into Arabella Advisors, the $1 billion left-wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dark-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dark money<\/a> network sharing connections to his office, according to a lawyer for Arabella\u2019s funds.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>However, Schwalb\u2019s office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2572177\/inside-leonard-leos-fight-against-the-investigation-into-his-conservative-network\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">still appears to be investigating groups<\/a> linked to Leo, an influential conservative activist who helped advise former President Donald Trump on his judicial nominees, including his three appointees to the high court. The attorney general\u2019s office previously said it declines to confirm or deny the existence of investigations.<\/p>\n<p><em>Gabe Kaminsky contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Federalist Society co-Chairman Leonard Leo stands firm after Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) issues subpoena. Leo condemns the subpoena as &#8220;unlawful and politically motivated.&#8221; Durbin&#8217;s move has drawn criticism and raises concerns about possible political motives behind the subpoena. Leo&#8217;s statement underscores his resolve to resist what he perceives as politically charged actions against him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2218869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP18183741004945-1024x691.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2218868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP18183741004945-1024x691.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2218869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}