A little known conservative group headed by a leader in Republicans’ years-long campaign to pack the Supreme Court got an astonishing $1.6 billion donation last year, new reporting reveals. This is most likely the largest single donation to a political non-profit.
The New York Times reportedMonday, the electronics mogul and billionaire Barre Seid donated 100 percent of his shares in his electronic device manufacturing company, Tripp Lite, to the group in 2021 — just before Tripp Lite was sold to a foreign company for $1.65 billion, tax records show. According to tax records, the donation is more than what the 15 most politically active Democratically aligned non-profits spent in 2020. Times analysis.
The donation will likely be used to fund Republican efforts over the next few years, as the party is openly supportive of fascism. ProPublica Seid pointed out that Seid had given Seid a lot of money. puts him on the level ofMajor political influences such as the Koch brothers and is an emblemThe huge amounts of money individuals can inject into the political system Thanks to Citizens United.
Marble Freedom Trust, a dark money organization, was the recipient of the donation. Its existence and purpose outside of political engagement has been largely unreported. But the group’s leader could provide a clue: Marble Freedom is headed by notorious conservative court-packer Leonard LeoFormer Vice President of the Koch-funded Federalist Society.
Though Leo’s name is not widely known among the public, he is one of the most influential figures behind conservatives’ efforts to engineer and pack the Supreme Court, and has aided in the appointing of every single sitting far right Supreme Court justice — the same far right justices Behind the revocation federal abortion rights.
Groups in Leo’s network also had a hand inBlocking Merrick Garland, the nominee for the Supreme Court of Barack Obama, as a nominee. Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court justice was once joking in 2018. that Leo is “the number three most powerful person in the world.”
Leo was also a major force behind the confirmations of presidential judges outside of the Supreme Court. Leo was an advisor to Donald Trump. the former president appoint and confirmAccording to the federal judiciary appointees list, there are over 200. ProPublica.
Seid’s donation has nearly quadrupled the amount of funds at Leo’s disposal in his work managing dark money funds. Leo confirmed the donation when he was contacted. The New York Times that “it’s high time” for the political right to have the funding to combat left-wing philanthropists “to defend our constitution and its ideals.”
Because of the Marble Freedom Trust’s status as a 501(c)4 nonprofit — which makes it a “social welfare” group that’s exempt from taxes — the group is allowed to spend money on political advocacy and can directly spend money on elections.
The group’s categorization is also financially expedient for Seid, because it allowed him and the organization to structure the transactionSeid could therefore avoid paying taxes on the sale. “These actions by the super wealthy are actually costing the American taxpayers to support the political spending of the wealthiest Americans,” Ray Madoff, a professor of tax law at Boston College, told the Times.
Seid has spent the last decadesDonate quietly to conservative causes, including distribution of an Islamophobic filmDuring the 2008 presidential election to households in battleground state. Little is known about Seid’s political advocacy, and he has taken lengths to keep quiet about his conservatism, though some watchdogs have saidHe was behind a $20million donation to George Mason University that would have allowed it to rename the Antonin Scalia Law School.
