The Supreme Court is poised to step in and put a spotlight on one of the Left’s most potent legal weapons. How do we know? Look no further than the collective panic and wave of articles the Left and their allies are planting in an effort to fan a new, baseless influence-peddling narrative.
The justices yesterday met for the first time over whether to hear an appeal out of Hawaii from energy companies fighting off two dozen climate-change lawsuits from liberal cities and states. The plaintiffs are seeking billions of dollars out of these public nuisance cases, money they will use to force fundamental changes to what we can buy and how we consume energy–an EV in every garage, and gas stoves over the cliff, as it were.
The Left has been pushing these public nuisance lawsuits for years against all sorts of disfavored products and industries—from plastics to guns to cars to energy producers—through a coordinated campaign involving public officials, trial lawyers, and advocacy groups, all backed by massive sums of liberal dark money.
And that isn’t all.
Recent news articles speak to how leftwing nonprofits have spent years and many millions of dollars to wine, dine and indoctrinate the judges in whose courts they intend to bring these public nuisance cases.
The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and its Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) are the key players in what you might call “The Judge Scheme.” CJP has propagandized thousands of state and federal judges over dozens of events in recent years. These events–there have been over 40 in the last five years according to a January expose–feature presentations from expert witnesses and nonprofit groups meant to condition judges to arguments favorable to the Left’s positions. CJP has also crafted curriculum modules to buttress their closed-door programming.
Honolulu’s climate-nuisance lawsuit is a case in point for “The Judge Scheme.” The Hawaii Supreme Court greenlit Honolulu’s case late last year, prompting energy companies to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. And we now know—thanks to The Daily Caller News Foundation breaking the news—that Hawaii chief justice Mark Recktenwald has collaborated extensively with ELI, attending ELI events and delivering three presentations on climate-law issues.
So, what is the Left to do now that the Supreme Court is poised to take up the Honolulu case and step in on this massive coordinated public nuisance effort to impose leftwing policies on a nationwide basis through the courtroom?
Seems like the answer is: plant news articles accusing anyone who points out their rotten scheme or calls for Supreme Court review of being part of an “unprecedented influence campaign” on the part of the conservative legal movement.
It is infuriating to see the Left, funded by liberal dark money, run a coordinated campaign to change the lives of everyday consumers across the country and then dare to try and undermine any scrutiny of their efforts by presenting their opponents as the ones running a coordinated influence campaign.
The only corrupt influence-peddling happening in these cases comes from the Left. And we would all be better off if the Supreme Court stepped in and put an end to this whole charade—especially those of us who live in states outside the coastal bubble.
The leftwing public nuisance plaintiffs want to keep their cases–especially the current Honolulu climate change case now sitting before the Court for potential review–out of the U.S. Supreme Court because they’ve already worked over their chosen judges at the lower levels, setting the stage for their coordinated courtroom campaigns to carry the day and win control over national policy on issues where the Left is losing political influence. It isn’t rocket science.
That is why the Left is ginning up yet another fake controversy around the high court. They are desperate to keep these cases out of the Supreme Court because they know their arguments will be subject to sober and searching review for the very first time. They know that they might lose 9-0. And they know that if the Supreme Court steps in and trims the sails on this effort, that millions of dollars and years of coordinated dark money efforts will be blown to bits.
Here is hoping these cases get what they deserve.
O.H. Skinner is executive director of Alliance for Consumers and the former solicitor general of Arizona.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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