Straight from the “politics makes strange bedfellows” file comes news that conservative activists, Republicans attorneys general, and a controversial personal injury attorney are teaming up to target America’s biggest investment firms.
In a December 2024 complaint, a group of GOP attorneys general alleged that the top three asset managers in the U.S. — State Street, BlackRock, and Vanguard — colluded and violated antitrust laws by investing in coal companies with the intent of decreasing coal production.
If that legal theory sounds convoluted and absurd, that’s because it is.
Aside from the frivolousness of the complaint, an interesting subplot of the lawsuit is the unholy alliance comprised of Republican attorneys general, conservative interest groups, and a colorful and controversial Texas personal injury attorney named Tony Buzbee.
A New York Post article reported on a lawsuit filed against Buzbee by a former female client alleging that Buzbee intentionally gave the woman a sexually transmitted disease and also hit her in the face with a glass, leaving the woman with two broken teeth. Other articles describe outrageous behavior by Buzbee, including taking lap dances with strippers at a rap concert and needing to call the police to have a “girlfriend” removed from his mansion who was deliberating ruining his expensive artwork.
More recently, Buzbee made headlines again as he was sued for defamation by rapper Jay-Z over the attorney’s behavior in a now withdrawn civil lawsuit. In the defamation suit, it is alleged that Buzbee coerced and directed an Alabama woman to apparently falsely claim that Jay-Z assaulted her, even though she admitted on tape to investigators that the incident never happened.
Beyond the work of attorney Buzbee in this antitrust complaint, the Republican attorney generals lawsuit is also supported by a number of conservative groups with ties to a prominent social conservative political activist by the name of Leonard Leo. Leo has prioritized social issues, such as attacking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Leo’s well-endowed nonprofit organizations are major donors to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).
For the past two years, RAGA and other Leo-funded organizations have been setting the stage for Republican attorneys general to bring a number of lawsuits against the three large asset managers.
In addition to RAGA, another group cheerleading the lawsuit is Consumers’ Research. The organization’s executive director, Will Hild, previously served as deputy director of the Federalist Society’s regulatory transparency project under Leo. Hild has made going after corporate wokeness a priority, focusing primarily on ESG issues.
One of the asset managers targeted in the suit, BlackRock, has also been the focus of an aggressive public relations campaign by Hild’s group. In several ads across TV, radio, and digital, Consumers’ Research spent millions of dollars attacking BlackRock over the firm’s use of alleged ESG investing strategies. While conservatives generally support corporate anti-wokeness, it’s certainly noteworthy that this cadre also now includes as staunch a Democrat as the high-profile plaintiff lawyer Tony Buzbee.
In October 2022, The New York Times reported Leo called “the woke capitalism battle” a “very high priority for me, and I am very excited about what Consumers’ Research is doing.”
Consumers’ Research was “resuscitated a decade later as a Republican-aligned group working partly to topple federal environmental laws, using millions of dollars from donors with connections to Mr. Leo,” the Times added. And about two months after Leo’s Marble Freedom Trust processed a $1.6 billion contribution from right-wing megadonor Barre Seid, “Consumers’ Research began an anti-E.S.G. campaign on which it says it has spent nearly $10 million — more than it had spent in the previous seven years combined.”
Another conservative organization supporting the state attorneys general’s lawsuit is the Judicial Crisis Network. Also funded by Leo, it is led by Carrie Severino, a former clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Recently, Severino penned an article supportive of the lawsuit by Republican attorneys general against the asset managers. The Judicial Crisis Network has contributed over $11.5 million to RAGA since 2020.
In addition to hiring Buzbee to represent them in the suit against the asset managers, the state attorneys general have also hired a prominent Republican plaintiffs’ firm, Cooper & Kirk. The Washington, D.C., law firm has deep ties with the Federalist Society and Leo. Charles J. Cooper, the founding member and chairman of Cooper & Kirk, is a longtime Federalist Society member and has played key roles in getting conservative Supreme Court justices nominated and confirmed along with Leo. Cooper & Kirk contributed over $125,000 to RAGA in 2024.
So, why are Republican attorneys general and conservative interest groups teaming up with a shady Texas personal injury attorney to sue asset managers that are investing in businesses in their respective states? Why are such valuable conservatives lining up with someone whose values don’t align with theirs?
The only explanation is that politics makes strange bedfellows.
