Virginia Thomas and Leonard Leo collaborated to found Leo's dark money network and influence the Court

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/10/ginni-thomas-leonard-leo-citizens-united-00108082

In late 2009, just a few weeks after oral arguments in Citizens United v. FEC, Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo founded what became a vast network of technically nonprofit conservative advocacy organizations with financial backing from Thomas's "dear friend," Texas billionaire Harlan Crow.

The story raises questions of whether Justice Clarence Thomas is corruptly profiting from his wife's efforts to influence the Court as well as the propriety of his deciding cases that her funders and associates are trying to impact. Both Leo and Thomas subsequently founded their own for-profit companies. The network of nonprofits has since funneled tens of millions of dollars to Leo's company, and Ginni Thomas has received an unknown amount exceeding $100,000. Democrats in Congress are now seeking to investigate these relationships. Thomas's and Leo's initial nonprofit, Liberty Central, was chartered just a few days before the Citizens United decision was published, and Crow contributed the first $500,000. Thomas soon switched her focus to her for-profit company. Although Justice Thomas now reports that his wife receives income through the for-profit company, the amounts and sources are not disclosed.

Leo's well-heeled groups have compiled extensive research and have flooded the Court with amicus briefs on behalf of conservative causes and in opposition to legislation passed with majority Democratic support.

The sources of funds for these activities are mostly unknown because of laws shielding donors and also because the IRS staff responsible for assuring that "nonprofit" groups are adhering to the law had been decimated by Congressional policies and budget cuts. The campaign to neuter the IRS was led by Cleta Mitchell, an associate of Leo and Virginia Thomas.

Some of Leo's groups – rebranded as "Honest Elections Project" – also led campaigns to pass "election security" laws in the states that Democrats think are well-calculated to suppress votes for their candidates. These efforts anticipated and reinforced the Trumpist claims that Biden stole the 2020 presidential election.

Between 2013 and 2021 Leo's Judicial Education Project gave $7 million to the Center for the Rule of Law, a group whose nonprofit status was revoked in 2011.

When asked why his groups hide their funding sources, Leo replied "'It's not to hide in the shadows,' he said. 'It's because we want ideas judged by their own moral and intellectual force.'"

Charlie Cooper