{"id":2219347,"date":"2024-04-12T12:37:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T16:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leonard-leo-subpoena-from-democrats-is-unlawful-senate-republicans-say\/"},"modified":"2024-04-12T12:38:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T16:38:23","slug":"leonard-leo-subpoena-from-democrats-is-unlawful-senate-republicans-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leonard-leo-subpoena-from-democrats-is-unlawful-senate-republicans-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Republicans claim that the subpoena of Leonard Leo by Democrats is deemed unlawful"},"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\">28<\/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-subpoena-from-democrats-is-unlawful-senate-republicans-say%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=2219347&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>The Senate Republicans are disputing the legality of \u2062a \u200bDemocratic-led subpoena issued to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/conservative-activist-rogan-ohandley-talks-electoral-college-big-tech-more-with-oan\/\" title=\"Conservative activist Rogan O\u2019Handley talks Electoral College, Big Tech &#038; more with OAN\">conservative activist<\/a> Leonard Leo. Leo, known \u200cfor \u2064advising former President Donald Trump \u2064on Supreme\u200c Court picks, declared \u200cthe subpoena \u200bas \u200c&#8221;unlawful\u2063 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-kyle-rittenhouse-finally-released-on-2-million-cash-bond\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Kyle Rittenhouse FINALLY Released on  Million Cash Bond\">politically motivated<\/a>.&#8221; The\u200b investigation involves reported undisclosed gifts to Supreme Court \u200djustices.\u2063 Senator \u2063Lindsey Graham criticized the\u2064 subpoena, labeling it as illegal\u200c and frivolous.  <\/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>Senate Republicans are pouring cold water on the legality of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2963325\/leonard-leo-not-capitulating-durbin-subpoena\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Democratic-led subpoena<\/a> this week to Leonard Leo, a conservative activist who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fing-change-your-model-joe-rogan-calls-on-cnn-to-report-objective-news\/\" title=\"\u2018F***ing Change Your Model\u2019: Joe Rogan Calls On CNN To Report \u2018Objective News\u2019\">helped advise<\/a> former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> on Supreme Court picks. <\/p>\n<p>Leo said on Thursday he would not comply with the \u201cunlawful and politically motivated subpoena\u201d he received that day from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate-judiciary-committee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Senate Judiciary Committee<\/a> Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) as part of the Democratic majority\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2095715\/federalist-societys-leonard-leo-snubs-senate-democrats-supreme-court-records-request\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>investigation<\/a> into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/why-hasnt-senate-judiciary-subpoenaed-harlan-crow-leonard-leo-scotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>reported<\/a> trips or gifts to Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices from wealthy activists they argue went undisclosed. To Republicans, the effort to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cmte-hit-with-yet-another-lawsuit-by-trump-spokesman\/\" title=\"CMTE hit with yet another lawsuit by Trump spokesman\">obtain private records<\/a> from Leo is invalid, particularly because GOP lawmakers were not present for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-stonewall-paycheck-fairness-act-over-employer-burdens-redundancy\/\" title=\"Republicans Stonewall \u2018Paycheck Fairness Act\u2019 Over Employer Burdens, Redundancy\">roll call vote<\/a> in November of last year \u2014 despite a committee rule requiring two minority members for a quorum.<\/p>\n<p>The vote in November 2023 also occurred after 12:00 p.m., after the two hours senators were allowed to meet, in violation of Senate rules, Republicans said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe world is on fire, the border is broken, and the Biden administration is completely incompetent on multiple levels,\u201d Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), GOP ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cYet the Democrat-led Senate wants to subpoena a private citizen for political clickbait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe subpoena is illegal, the underlying allegations are frivolous, and I hope the American people are fed up with this,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI know I am.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>In this Nov. 16, 2016, file photo, Federalist Society Executive Vice President Leonard Leo speaks to media at Trump Tower in New York. (AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Durbin said on Thursday that Leo played 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 Leo is co-chairman of the Federalist Society, a major conservative and libertarian legal group.<\/p>\n<p>The subpoena to Leo comes less than two months after <em>ProPublica<\/em> published an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/why-hasnt-senate-judiciary-subpoenaed-harlan-crow-leonard-leo-scotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>article<\/a> titled \u201cWhy haven\u2019t Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo Been Subpoenaed?\u201d The website has reported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-private-school-tuition-scotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>on<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-investigation-origins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>the<\/a> relationships between Leo and other activists, such as Harlan Crow, and Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. <em>ProPublica<\/em> is <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/06\/20\/propublica-donors-clarence-thomas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>funded<\/a> by many of the same left-wing organizations that have either called on Thomas to resign or pressed for investigations into alleged ethics violations among both justices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Durbin subpoena is illegitimate and unenforceable,\u201d Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cIt is a document produced solely by Democrat members of the Judiciary Committee in violation of our own rules, a desperate attempt to quash the First Amendment rights of private American citizens through government harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That the investigation could violate Leo\u2019s First Amendment rights is an argument the activist\u2019s lawyer, David B. Rivkin, laid out in a letter last year to Durbin. The lawyer said Democrats on the committee were \u201ctargeting Mr. Leo out of hostility toward his political views and associations\u201d and had \u201cintensified their rhetorical attacks on Mr. Leo\u2019s conservative views and constitutionally protected speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese subpoenas are unlawful, and the threat they represent is unethical,\u201d Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cDemocrats are trying to punish and defame the Supreme Court because they can\u2019t control it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said the subpoena shows that \u201cDemocrats will stop at nothing to delegitimize the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSee these Democrat attacks for what they are \u2014 a full-on assault on our Constitution,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cDemocrats hate our system of separation of powers, and they are willing to burn down the Supreme Court to accomplish their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To enforce the subpoena, Democrats would need to hold a Senate vote and earn 60 votes in the split upper chamber, a difficult task. <\/p>\n<p><em>Kaelen Deese contributed to this report<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, Senate Republicans are challenging a Democratic-led subpoena targeting conservative activist Leonard Leo. Leo, known for advising former President Donald Trump on Supreme Court selections, declared he would defy the &#8220;unlawful and politically driven&#8221; subpoena received from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":2219348,"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-2219347","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\/2219347","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\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2219347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2219348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2219347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2219347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2219347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}