Amicus Spotlight: Loper Bright & Relentless

21 right-wing groups linked to court-whisperers want SCOTUS to make its most dangerous regulatory power grab yet.

The Supreme Court will soon issue rulings in two cases — Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce — that could upend 40 years of judicial precedent and eviscerate hundreds of federal health and safety protections.

As Vox’s Ian Milhiser explains, both cases ask the justices to “put themselves in charge of everything” by reconsidering how much regulatory policy-making power should be vested in executive branch agencies versus the judiciary. 40 years ago, the Supreme Court held in Chevron v. NRDC that the courts should generally defer to federal agencies (who, unlike the judiciary, are staffed with career civil servants and subject matter experts like scientists and engineers AND are allocated the responsibility to “take care” that statutes be implemented by the Constitution) on interpreting and implementing regulations when a dispute over Congress’ legislative intent arises. If the Court reverses the precedent known as the “Chevron doctrine” (as it appears likely to do), it would permit individual activist judges to invalidate hundreds of crucial civil rights, education, climate, consumer, health care, and worker protections based purely on their personal political preferences. It would also cause the late Antonin Scalia to roll over in his grave, as even the Federalist Society recognizes that Scalia (and other conservatives) once celebrated the judicial humility of the Chevron Doctrine.

Though the actual disputes in Loper Bright and Relentless revolve around technical questions about fishing regulations and fees, conservative groups with links to the Court’s billionaire benefactors have directly backed the petitioners in both cases as a means to launch a broader assault on Chevron. Understanding their role in these cases also sheds light on the ideological flip-flopping on Chevron of Clarence Thomas, a Justice not otherwise known for changing his mind.

• Herring fisherman Bill Bright is represented by the CAUSE OF ACTION INSTITUTE, a shell law firm whose lawyers also work for the Charles Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity. Cause of Action’s board is stacked with litigators and executives linked to Koch Industries, including one lawyer who is defending the company in an ongoing climate lawsuit filed by the Minnesota Attorney General. 

• Relentless, Inc. is represented in its case by three lawyers from the NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE (NCLA), a right-wing litigation group that has also filed an amicus brief backing the petitioners in Loper Bright. NCLA has close ties to both Charles Koch and Leonard Leo.
  • The Charles Koch Foundation provided $1 million of the $1.6 million NCLA raised in its first year of operation, while both the Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute gave NCLA a total of $5 million from 2017 to 2021. NCLA’s president previously served as in-house counsel for Koch Industries, and the group is an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network. 
  • Leonard Leo’s dark money groups 85 Fund and DonorsTrust have given $4 million to NCLA since 2018. 

An RDP review of amicus brief filings in Loper Bright and Relentless finds at least 19 right-wing filers have significant ties to conservative court-whisperers, including Charles Koch, Leonard Leo, and Paul Singer.

• PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION (PLF): PLF is a conservative litigation group that has frequently sued federal regulators over health, safety, and climate regulations. PLF represented petitioners Michael and Chantell Sackett in Sackett v. EPA (2023), a Supreme Court case in which Justice Clarence Thomas cast a deciding vote to gut the Clean Water Act.
  • In addition to receiving historic financial support from tobacco giant Philip Morris and oil titan ExxonMobil, PLF received a combined $3.1 million from the Charles Koch Institute and Charles Koch Foundation between 2015 and 2021.
  • PLF received $152,000 from Donors Trust, a Leonard Leo-linked dark money group, in 2021. 

• GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: The Goldwater Institute is an Arizona-based right-wing think tank named after arch-conservative former Senator Barry Goldwater.
  • The Charles Koch Institute has given the Goldwater Institute $1,161,500 since 2016, with over 95% of that money coming in 2020 and 2021. The Charles Koch Foundation also gave the Goldwater Institute $238,353 from 2004 to 2020. That includes $100,000 grants in 2016 and 2018. The Goldwater Institute is also an affiliate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.

• AMERICA FIRST LEGAL FOUNDATION: America First Legal is a right-wing litigation group co-founded by anti-immigrant hardliner Stephen Miller and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows.
  • Meadows played an instrumental role in Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, including exchanging over 29 texts with Justice Thomas’ wife Ginni in which she repeatedly encouraged Meadows to overturn the election results.

• MANHATTAN INSTITUTE: The Manhattan Institute is a right-wing think tank that has defended trickle-down economics, spread climate denial propaganda at the behest of the fossil fuel industry, and argued for the privatization of social services.
  • The Manhattan Institute received $3,182,717 from Koch organizations and foundations between 1997 and 2017. The Manhattan Institute is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.
  • Multi-billionaire Paul Singer, a benefactor of Justice Alito, is the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Manhattan Institute. He contributed $8,760,000 to the Manhattan Institute between 2011 and 2022, funding $1,635,000 in 2022 alone.
  • Kathy Crow, wife of real estate mogul Harlan Crow, is a current Trustee of the Manhattan Institute.

• FOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY (FGA): FGA is a right-wing think tank whose pet projects include undermining child labor protections, blocking Medicaid expansion, and imposing draconian work requirements for social safety net programs like food stamps.
  • FGA received $60,000 in seed money in 2011 from the State Policy Network, of which it is also an affiliate member.
  • Leonard Leo’s network has poured $5.3 million into FGA as of October 2023. Leonard Leo’s 85 Fund — which acts as one of two funding hubs for the Leo network — contributed $2 million to FGA in 2020. Between 2020 and 2021, FGA returned the favor by paying CRC Advisors, a firm founded by Leonard Leo, $400,000 in consulting fees for “public relations.”

• LIBERTY JUSTICE CENTER: The Liberty Justice Center is the litigation arm of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, which has supported legal assaults on collective bargaining, gun safety measures, and public school funding.
  • The Liberty Justice Center received $1 million in 2021 from the Marcus Foundation, a charitable giving nonprofit run by Home Depot co-founder and Republican megadonor Bernard Marcus. Marcus is also a 1993 inductee into the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive circle of wealthy business elites that has lavished Clarence Thomas with luxury gifts and received unprecedented access to the Supreme Court building.
  • The Liberty Justice Center is an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.

• CLAREMONT INSTITUTE’S CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL JURISPRUDENCE: The Claremont Institute is an “anti-democracy think tank” that defended and supported Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
  • Claremont’s litigation arm, the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, is led by “coup memo” author and Trump co-conspirator John Eastman, who co-authored its amicus brief in Loper Bright. Eastman is a former law clerk to Justice Thomas and exchanged emails with Ginni Thomas ahead of the January 6th attack on the Capitol. 

• LANDMARK LEGAL FOUNDATION: Landmark Legal Foundation is a conservative litigation group that has supported right-wing attacks on environmental regulations, labor unions, and consumer protection.
  • Landmark’s board is chaired by Fox News personality Mark Levin, a close personal friend of Clarence and Ginni Thomas for well over a decade. 

• CATO INSTITUTE: The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank that has long advocated for defunding social services like Social Security and public schools and eliminating key environmental, labor, and anti-discrimination protections.
  • The Cato Institute was co-founded by Charles Koch in 1977 under the original corporate name of the “Charles Koch Foundation, Inc.” Koch Industries and Koch nonprofits have given Cato tens of millions of dollars over the past 45 years. The Cato Institute is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.

• COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE (CEI): CEI is a right-wing think tank and longtime climate change denial advocate that opposes a host of federal labor, consumer, health, and environmental protections. It was founded in 1984 by former Koch collaborator Fred Smith.
  • Koch’s philanthropic arms jointly gave over $640,000 to CEI between 1997 and 2015. CEI is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network. 

• NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION: The National Taxpayers Union is an anti-tax lobbying group largely funded by billionaires, including Charles Koch.
  • The Charles G. Koch Foundation contributed $463,030 between 2016 and 2020. The Charles Koch Institute also donated $304,000 in 2020 and $300,000 in 2021. The organization is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.

• U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: The Chamber is the largest corporate lobbying group in the country, representing predatory Wall Street banks and major fossil fuel companies, as well as some corporate criminals. The Chamber spends millions annually on federal lobbying and dark money political contributions to promote an anti-worker, anti-consumer, and anti-climate deregulatory agenda.
  • Chamber advisor Thomas Donohue and Chamber board member Frank VanderSloot are both inductees of the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive circle of wealthy business elites that has lavished Clarence Thomas with luxury gifts and received unprecedented access to the Supreme Court building. 
  • Charles Koch’s foundation has given large amounts of money to bankroll the Chamber’s work, including a 2021 grant of $817,500 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and a 2022 grant of $1.65 million to fund the Chamber’s JobSIDE initiative.

• INDEPENDENT WOMEN’S LAW CENTER: The Independent Women’s Law Center is the litigation arm of the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), a right-wing group that originated as “Women for Justice Thomas.”
  • Between 2020 and 2021, Leonard Leo’s 85 Fund gave IWF $660,000. Leo’s Freedom and Opportunity Fund gave IWF’s advocacy arm $4 million in 2016-2017 during the fight to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s SCOTUS seat.
  • Billionaire Charles Koch is a major funder of the Independent Women’s Forum. In 2019, the Charles Koch Foundation gave $100,000 to the Independent Women’s Forum. Between 2020 and 2021, the Charles Koch Institute gave $303,000 to the Independent Women’s Forum. The Independent Women’s Forum is also an associate member of the Koch-linked State Policy network.

• TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION (TPPF): TPPF is a right-wing think tank bankrolled by the fossil fuel industry that is focused on combating environmental protections — even going so far as to make “the moral case for fossil fuels”.
  • TPPF has received millions of dollars from billionaire Charles Koch-linked organizations, including over $2 million just between 2020 and 2021 from the Charles Koch Institute. Inadvertent disclosures reveal that it has also been directly funded by Koch Industries. TPPF is also an affiliate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.

• STUDENTS FOR LIFE OF AMERICA: Students for Life of America is an anti-abortion group dedicated to indoctrinating children and young adults with anti-choice extremism, and also pushes for laws to ban abortion. The organization has also opposed the reauthorization of PEPFAR, a two-decades-old HIV/AIDS prevention initiative that has saved 25 million lives since its inception. Students for Life’s leader, Kristan Hawkins, has also expressed support for banning contraception.
  • Leonard Leo was publicly listed as Co-Chairman of the Board for Students for Life of America until at least August 2023, at which point his name was removed from the website. Leo network groups have also bankrolled funded Students for Life.

• SOUTHEASTERN LEGAL FOUNDATION: Southeastern Legal Foundation is a right-wing litigation group best known for challenging campaign finance laws and EPA climate regulations. Southeastern Legal has filed a petitioner-side amicus brief in both Loper Bright and Relentless. 
  • Southeastern received a combined $680,000 from 2021 to 2022 from the Marcus Foundation, a charitable giving nonprofit run by Home Depot co-founder and Republican megadonor Bernard Marcus. Marcus is also a 1993 inductee into the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive circle of wealthy business elites that has lavished Clarence Thomas with luxury gifts and received unprecedented access to the Supreme Court building.

• ADVANCING AMERICAN FREEDOM (AAF): AAF is a conservative advocacy group founded in April 2021 by former Vice President Mike Pence. AAF staunchly opposes reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, aims to defund public education, denies climate science, and opposes rail safety regulations. AAF has filed a petitioner-side amicus brief in both Loper Bright and Relentless.
  • Leonard Leo’s Concord Fund contributed more than $1.5 million to Advancing American Freedom between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022.

• BUCKEYE INSTITUTE: The Buckeye Institute is a right-wing think tank that has promoted so-called “right-to-work” laws that result in lower wages, advocated against Medicaid expansion, and fear mongered about the effects of increasing the minimum wage. Buckeye has filed a petitioner-side amicus brief in both Loper Bright and Relentless.
  • The Buckeye Institute received just over $650,000 from the Charles Koch Foundation between 2016 and 2020, including a $250,000 grant in 2018, and a $100,000 grant in 2019. It additionally received over $300,000 from the Charles Koch Institute between 2018 and 2022, the bulk of that money coming from a $212,000 grant in 2020 and a $50,000 grant in 2021. The Buckeye Institute is also an affiliate member of the Koch-linked State Policy Network.
    
• NEW ENGLAND FISHERMEN’S STEWARDSHIP ASSOCIATION (NEFSA): NEFSA is a fishing industry trade group launched last year to fight against industry regulations.
  • According to watchdog Accountable.US, Leonard Leo’s Concord Fund gave NEFSA $573,000 at the group’s formation.

Want to learn more about the right-wing assault on Chevron Doctrine? Check out our new website SupremeTransparency.org and listen to the new podcast Grave Injustice.