What Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo wrought: How a justice’s wife and a key activist started a movement

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Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, a trove of so-called 'dark money' was about to be unleashed. Two activists prepared to seize the moment.

Judicial Education Project, at Leo’s direction, reportedly pays Thomas up to $100,000 between June 2011 and June 2012.Wellspring reports paying it $136,000.JEP begins filing amicus briefs in numerous cases before the court including Obamacare, voting rights and affirmative action.Cleta Mitchell leads “the charge to stoke” claims the IRS is targeting conservative nonprofits.

Leo’s role as the central figure in this movement has long been known, culminating in his acquisition last year of what many believe to be the largest political donation in history. Few are aware of the extent to which the movement’s baby steps were taken in concert with Ginni Thomas.

that Leo and Crow provide a list of “gifts, payments, or other items of value” they’ve given Thomas and her husbandMeanwhile, Leo’s network of nonprofits — whose annual donations have skyrocketed into the hundreds of millions of dollars — is the subject of an investigation by the Washington, D.C., attorney general, POLITICO reported last month.

“The real question then is, ‘what is Ginni Thomas qualified to do, what did they pay her to do, and was it fair market value?’” said Laura Solomon, a Pennsylvania tax attorney who represents hundreds of charitable and other tax-exempt organizations and philanthropists. , Leo’s lawyers said his advocacy work is protected under the First Amendment and that any congressional inquiry into his relationships with Supreme Court justices is “politically charged” and tantamount to harassment.

 

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