ICYMI: Watchdog Report Reveals Alarming Conflicts of Interest for Justices Thomas and Alito Ahead of FCC v. Consumers’ Research Oral Arguments

As Supreme Court oral arguments in FCC v. Consumers’ Research begin on Wednesday, Accountable.US renews call for Justices Thomas and Alito to recuse themselves

WASHINGTON, DC – In case you missed it, Accountable.US and United for Democracy called on Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to recuse themselves in the upcoming Supreme Court case FCC v. Consumers’ Research after new information came to light on the Justices’ close personal ties to the primary backer Consumers’ Research, conservative kingpin Leonard Leo. Last week, Accountable.US released a new watchdog report which revealed significant conflicts of interest implicating Justices Thomas and Alito and calling into question their ability to hear the case impartially – threatening to degrade Americans’ trust in the highest court in the land even further.

The outcome of FCC v. Consumers’ Research could have sweeping consequences including the potential to cripple consumer safeguards and roll back environmental protections, with oral arguments set to be heard this week.

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Courthouse News Service: Thomas, Alito ties to conservative activist spark recusal calls:

Conservative activist Leonard Leo’s financial and ideological ties to a case before the Supreme Court next week sparked calls on Wednesday for Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to step down from a dispute that could further cripple federal agencies.

A new report details Leo’s contributions to and payments from Consumers’ Research — a group arguing against regulatory authority in a case against the Federal Communications Commission.

“What has not come to light until now is the alarmingly close personal and financial ties between Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito in the major backer of one of the parties in the case,” Tony Carrk, executive director at Accountable.US, told reporters. “Consumers’ Research is reportedly bankrolled by right-wing legal activist Leonard Leo.”

Accountable.US was one of three watchdog groups that signed a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts calling for Thomas and Alito’s recusal. Accountable.US, United for Democracy, and Take Back the Court said the American people’s faith in the justice system and the legitimacy of the Supreme Court depended on the justices abiding by their ethical obligations.

In the letter, the groups said Thomas and Alito’s “extensive” connections to a plaintiff before the court through Leo warranted their recusal.

“If a baseball umpire was caught taking free meals from a team vacationing with their star pitcher and having their house paid for by the team’s owner, no one would trust them to fairly call balls and strikes,” Carrk said. “Judges should be held to at least the same standard.”

Thomas, a George H.W. Bush nominee, and Alito, a George W. Bush nominee, have faced scrutiny for their connections to Leo, who is co-chairman and founder of the Federalist Society. Leo reportedly lavished Alito and Thomaswith high-dollar gifts that were never reported on the conservative justices’ financial disclosure forms.

Leo supported Thomas through his contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and Thomas is reportedly the godfather to one of Leo’s children. Both men have also taken family vacations together.

Alito’s nomination process was boosted by Leo’s support, and the conservative activist reportedly funded the justices’ travel on multiple trips, including a 2008 luxury fishing trip with billionaire Paul Singer.

Last year, Senate Democrats subpoenaed information from Leo concerning his relationships with Supreme Court justices.

Leo has been credited with building the legal movement pushing conservative causes to the supermajority on the Supreme Court — many of whom he had a role in nominating.

Deregulatory efforts took a central role in the movement last term when the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent governing agency authority. Court watchers say reviving the nondelegation doctrine — a theory limiting Congress’ delegation authority to executive branch agencies — is the next step in further curbing regulatory power.

Consumers’ Research advanced that effort through multiple lawsuits against the Federal Communications Commission’s fund for telecommunications services at rural schools and libraries. The group says the FCC unconstitutionally gave a private company authority over the fund.

The impact of Consumers’ Research’s Supreme Court battle stretches beyond the FCC, however. The nondelegation doctrine would further restrict how federal agencies govern consumer safeguards, Social Security, Medicare and more.

Leo’s shadowy connections to the group come from a series of insider reports and financial reports. An individual leaked information connecting Leo’s network with Consumers’ Research’s funding, and others named Leo as the group’s main financial backer. Reports also indicate that Leo-linked groups contributed hundreds of millions to fund Consumers’ Research.

According to Accountable.US, a donor-advised fund linked to Leo gave Consumers’ Research $6.51 million between 2020 and 2023 — about 80% of the group’s total revenue. The Leo-linked fund, Donors Trust, received over $300 million from two other Leo-linked groups, the 85 Fund and the Marble Freedom Trust, according to the report.

Accountable.US says Leo’s connections to Consumers’ Research give him influence over the organization. The group paid Leo’s for-profit firm over $1.3 million since 2020, according to the report.

Meagan Hatcher-Mays, a senior adviser at United For Democracy, said Leo’s relationship with Thomas and Alito represented a large problem in the U.S. political system. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, Hatcher-Mays said, are dismantling democratic institutions because there are no longer guardrails left to stop them. She said the friendly relationship between powerful individuals and judges was directly related to pulling those guardrails down.

“This is bigger than just Alito, Thomas and Leonard Leo,” Hatcher-Mays told reporters. “This is about all billionaires who have business pending in front of the court — whether their name is on the case or not — their interests are pending in front of the court. Given that the Supreme Court is not obligated to follow an enforceable code of conduct, it raises a lot of questions among the American people as to whether we can trust these rulings that come down from the court.”

All nine justices signed an ethics code, but the justices themselves are left to enforce it.

Earlier this year, Accountable.US released a report on Justice Neil Gorsuch’s connections to an oil billionaire who could benefit from an environment regulation case before the justices. Gorsuch recused from the case shortly before arguments were heard.

Alito and Thomas did not respond to questions sent to the Supreme Court’s public information office. Leo did not immediately provide a comment on the report.

E&E News: Justices urged to pull out of SCOTUS case that could handcuff Congress

Advocacy groups are calling on justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to step back from an upcoming Supreme Court case involving a right-leaning nonprofit backed by conservative legal activist Leonard Leo.

The nonprofit, Consumers’ Research, is set to make the case next week that the justices should bring back a long-dormant legal doctrine that stops Congress from handing off too much power to federal agencies like EPA.

According to a new report by Accountable.US, Consumers’ Research has close connections to Leo, who is co-chair of the Federalist Society. The recusal call comes as the Supreme Court has faced heightened scrutiny over reports that Thomas and other justices received gifts and trips from billionaires and conservative activists — including Leo — with business before the bench. […]

Bloomberg Law: Resurrected Consumer Group Leads Next Attack on Regulators

[…]  Consumers’ Research’s immediate target is a federal program that forces telecom carriers to contribute to a fund that makes telephone and internet services affordable for rural and low-income people. The ultimate goal of the case being argued March 26 is to revive a long-dormant legal principle that prohibits Congress from delegating its legislative power to federal agencies.  […]

Litigation has become another main focus of the group that’s closely connected to Leonard Leo, who helped President Donald Trump choose his three Supreme Court nominees during his first term. Hild described the Federalist Society’s former vice president as “a good friend and adviser to the organization.”

Consumers’ Research’s case challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission’s multi-billion-dollar Universal Service Fund is the latest attack on administrative power to come from a web of groups tied to Leo since Trump solidified a 6-3 conservative majority on the court.

There is a Leo network pushing an agenda that’s taking away the power to protect consumers, the environment, and workers, and giving it to corporate special interests, said Tony Carrk, Accountable.US executive director. […]

Common Dreams: Alito and Thomas Urged to Recuse From Key Case Over ‘Cozy Ties’ to Right-Wing Kingpin

Ahead of U.S. Supreme Court arguments next week, a watchdog group asserted Wednesday that right-wing Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas must recuse themselves from a case “whose outcome could have sweeping consequences,” citing “significant conflicts of interest” due to their relationships with “conservative kingpin Leonard Leo.”

In Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers’ Research, a right-wing group is challenging the constitutionality of the FCC’s Universal Service Fund program.

Vox’s Ian Millhiser reported Wednesday that “if the Supreme Court accepts an argument raised by a federal appeals court, which struck down the federal program, it would bring about one of the biggest judicial power grabs in American history, and hobble the government’s ability to do, well, pretty much anything.”

In the new report about Alito and Thomas, the watchdog Accountable.US issued a similar warning about the case’s potential impacts: “Effectively defunct for almost a century, the nondelegation doctrine prohibits Congress from passing off its legislative power to federal agencies… Reviving the doctrine would cripple agencies’ ability to govern consumer safeguards, social security, Medicare, and more during a time when the Trump administration has begun to slash federal agencies.”

“Now before the high court, the case presents an obvious conflict of interest for many of the justices who are personally tied to (and in some cases, friends of) the conservative activist Leonard Leo, who is closely connected to Consumers’ Research,” the analysis explains, pointing to reporting that Leo is the group’s “main backer.”

While “all six conservatives now sitting on the Supreme Court can credit Leo with helping to shepherd their confirmations,” the watchdog’s report states, the right-wing legal activist is “close personal friends” with Alito and Thomas.

According to the report:

• • Leo has known Justice Thomas since the early 1990s when Leo was clerking in D.C. Since then, Leo has traveled with Thomas and invited him to his personal residence in Maine. The justice is also the godfather to one of Leo’s daughters. Justice Thomas’ wife, Ginni, has previously called Leo her “hero” and “mentor.” Over the past 15 years, Leo and Ginni have worked together on several projects, operationalizing the outside game of conservative dark money and politics.
  • Leo has also traveled with Justice Alito, most notably to Alaska on a private fishing trip (which Justice Alito did not disclose at the time). Leo’s Federalist Society has also sponsored numerous trips overseas for Alito, some of them attended by Leo himself.

“Americans deserve a legal system that isn’t influenced by billionaires and special interest backers pushing an agenda at the expense of working families. Justices Thomas and Alito’s cozy ties to Leonard Leo and thereby Consumers’ Research fly straight in the face of that, and present a clear conflict of interest impeding their ability to rule impartially on the case,” said Accountable.US president Caroline Ciccone in a statement.

“Public trust in the Supreme Court is already at an all-time low because of misguided conduct by justices–this case threatens to degrade it further,” Ciccone continued. “The Supreme Court simply cannot be trusted to defend the Constitution if it doesn’t adopt an obligatory, enforceable code of conduct that cleans up the impropriety that’s existed on the court for years. Thomas and Alito must recuse themselves and restore a semblance of integrity to the highest court.”

In addition to releasing the report, Accountable.US and two other groups, Take Back the Court and United for Democracy, argued for Alito and Thomas’ recusal in a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts—who on Tuesday publicly condemned right-wing attacks on the federal judiciary. 

“The Supreme Court has been engulfed by corruption scandals, many of which centering around the right-wing justices’ overly friendly relationships with powerful billionaires and special interests,” United for Democracy senior adviser Meagan Hatcher-Mays said Wednesday. “At the same time that Justices Thomas and Alito were accepting lavish gifts and trips from billionaires, they were hearing cases with those same billionaires’ legal interests at stake.”

“It’s impossible for the American public to trust in Supreme Court rulings when this kind of glad-handing is taking place,” she added. “The appearance of impropriety is clear in FCC v. Consumers’ Research given Leonard Leo’s long-time friendship with Justices Thomas and Alito and his financial entanglements with Consumers’ Research. Justices Thomas and Alito must recuse themselves immediately.”

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