The
deepest, saddest revelation in Leo’s letter, of course, is not much of a
revelation at all: that this conspiratorial mind sits atop one of the largest
piles of corrupt money that the American political system has ever seen. The
Marble Freedom Trust, which Leo controls, received
a $1.6 billion contribution from a conservative Chicago billionaire, Barre
Seid, in 2021. According to publicly available tax forms, the Marble Freedom Trust
disbursed huge sums to two grantees with connections to Leo: $153,750,000 (yes,
the number of zeros is correct) went to the Schwab Charitable Fund and $55,500,000
to the Concord Fund, which controls the Judicial Crisis Network, one of the
many organizations in Leo’s orbit. The Schwab Charitable Fund’s form 990 for
2022 shows a transmission of $141,500,000 to the
85 Fund.
“Leo
has built a cash machine to advance his extreme agenda and to reverse
constitutional freedoms that generations of Americans sacrificed to secure,” said
Graves. “The ads fueled by the fortunes he has deployed often invoke lofty
phrases like the ‘rule of law,’ and in his speeches he asserts that he holds
the moral high ground. But there is no doubt that he has enriched himself
by essentially profiting at the cost of other people’s rights, as he has sought—without
being elected to office or appointed to the Court—to rewrite the Constitution
to suit his agenda.”
In short, Leo’s
letter to the 85 Fund is the epitome of irony. He asserts that the groups he
funds are spending too much money on ideas; now he just wants action. But it
seems clear that Leo and his cronies have never really cared about ideas,
because the one idea they keep repeating is that they care about America’s
constitutional government. And yet, they have put their weight and money behind
a man, Donald Trump, who attempted a coup, and they are filling our courts with
judges who seem keen to enable the MAGA project of destroying the Constitution.
