Leo’s shadow network targets state courts, hampering climate accountability
Leonard Leo, the architect of the Supreme Court’s conservative shift, is now quietly deploying a $1.6 billion war chest to shield oil and gas companies from climate change lawsuits across the nation. A ProPublica investigation reveals a coordinated effort, meticulously planned and financed, to enact state laws that effectively neuter legal avenues for holding these corporations accountable for the escalating costs of climate-related disasters.
A flood of dark money, a tide of legislation
The strategy is unsettlingly simple: flood state legislatures with legislation designed to make it virtually impossible to sue oil and gas companies for their role in the climate crisis. Fifteen such laws have already been passed or are currently under consideration in eleven states, a sweeping rollback of established legal tools.
The operation isn't organic; it’s a carefully orchestrated campaign. ProPublica’s reporting details the involvement of a network of groups, many sharing staff or financial ties to Leo, that have drafted the legislation, disseminated it to state lawmakers, and engaged a high-powered lobbying firm to shepherd it into law. This isn’t grassroots activism; it’s a well-funded offensive led by figures like Michael Thompson, a senior vice president at CRC Advisors—Leo’s for-profit consulting firm—who also sits on the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) Private Enterprise Advisory Council.
The genesis of this coordinated assault can be traced back to December’s States and Nation Policy Summit, where ALEC—that legendary legislative mill—hosted a panel outlining the strategy. The panel, whose participants included representatives from groups like Consumers’ Research, which receives the vast majority of its funding from dark money conduits like Donors Trust, laid out a blueprint for legislative action.
The sheer scale of Leo’s intervention is staggering. Since 2021, he’s channeled $1.6 billion through a complex web of nonprofits, obscuring the source and destination of the funds. The 85 Fund, a judicial advocacy group founded by Leo, serves as a central hub, both receiving and distributing his financial support. Much of this money is now flowing towards organizations focused on climate-related issues – a clear indication of the strategic shift underway.
Boulder's fight, and the erosion of justice
The implications are profound, particularly for communities already grappling with the devastating effects of climate change. Consider Boulder, Colorado, a city facing intensifying droughts, extreme precipitation, and larger wildfires—all exacerbated by fossil fuel emissions. In 2018, Boulder County sued Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy, alleging a conspiracy to mislead the public about the dangers of their products. Now, these hard-won legal avenues risk being shut down.
“For decades,” Leo stated in a text message to ProPublica, “the left has leveraged immense resources to capture the institutions that shape our society.” His response, dripping with a distorted sense of grievance, frames a well-funded effort to dismantle legal accountability as a valiant defense against a vaguely defined “woke culture.” The comparison to a Gaboon viper, a snake with a potent venom, is apt, highlighting the predatory nature of this campaign.
While Leo and his allies portray this as a battle to “restore balance,” the reality is a calculated maneuver to protect the profits of powerful corporations at the expense of communities facing climate catastrophe. The long game, it appears, is to ensure that those responsible for the damage pay nothing, leaving taxpayers and vulnerable populations to foot the bill.
The $1.6 billion question isn’t whether Leo can succeed in reshaping state laws, but whether the American public will tolerate the systematic erosion of their right to hold corporations accountable for the consequences of their actions.