Category Archives: Corporate Personhood

With Alito’s Billionaire Patron Holding $90 Million in Finance Firms, Watchdog Demands Recusal From CFPB Case

“Should Justice Alito preside over this case despite his clear conflicts of interest, it would add to the worsening Supreme Court corruption crisis and underscore the urgent need for ethics reform,” said one critic.

By Julia Conley. Published 9-18-2023 by Common Dreams

Samuel-Alito. Screenshot: Conversations with Bill Kristol

Anti-corruption watchdog Accountable.US on Monday said there is a clear need for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from an upcoming court case regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as a new analysis revealed the extent of one of his key associate’s financial interests in the case.

The group released new data showing that hedge fund manager Paul Singer holds at least $90 million in financial firms overseen by the CFPB, which was established in 2011 through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and has since provided $16 billion in financial relief to defrauded consumers and ordered companies to pay $3.7 billion in penalties.

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Groups ‘Extremely Disappointed’ by Ruling But Vow to Keep Fighting Mountain Valley Pipeline

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“It is clear to us that the top levers of power in this country do not serve the good of the people of Appalachia, who they have continued to sacrifice for the whims of a corrupt, reckless fossil fuel corporation,” said one activist.

By Jessica Corbett Published 8-11=2023 by Common Dreams

The Mountain Valley Pipeline. Photo: NRDC

Local and national climate campaigns on Friday expressed disappointment over an appellate court’s dismissal of challenges to a partially built fracked gas pipeline in West Virginia and Virginia but pledged to continue their efforts to kill the project.

Citing a section of the debt ceiling law that President Joe Biden negotiated with congressional Republicans this spring, a three-judge panel from the mountain-valley-pipeline-dismissal dismissed cases in which green groups challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Endangered Species Act approvals for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) as well as the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management’s authorizations for the Jefferson National Forest.

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‘Wrong and Frightening’: Alito Claims Congress Can’t Regulate SCOTUS

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“What a surprise, guy who is supposed to enforce checks and balances thinks checks shouldn’t apply to him,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 7-28-2023 by Common Dreams

Justice Samuel Alito in 2017. Photo: JoshEllie1234/Wikimedia Commons/CC

While conservative Justice Samuel Alito’s new Wall Street Journal interview covered various topics, one that provoked intense ire on Friday was his suggestion that federal lawmakers don’t have the power to regulate the U.S. Supreme Court.

For a series of Journal opinion pieces—the first was published in April—Alito spent four hours speaking on the record with David B. Rivkin Jr., an attorney who currently has a case before the high court, and James Taranto, the newspaper’s editorial features editor.

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Voting Rights Groups Raise Alarm About House GOP Introducing ‘Big Lie Bill’

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One critic warned the legislation would “increase the influence of billionaires, corporations, and secret money in our elections while putting up barriers for eligible voters to vote.”

By Jessica Corbett Published 7-10-2023 by Common Dreams

U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.). Photo: Congressman Bryan Steil/Facebook

Voting rights advocates across the United States on Monday responded with alarm to Republicans introducing what its backers called “the most conservative election integrity bill to be seriously considered” in the U.S. House of Representatives in decades.

Dubbed the “Big Lie Bill” by critics, the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act is spearheaded by Committee on House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) and includes nearly 50 standalone bills from the chamber’s GOP members.

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World’s 500 Richest People Added $852 Billion to Their Wealth in First Half of 2023

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“They can afford to pay their fair share in taxes.”

By Jake Johnson. Published 7-7-2023 by Common Dreams

Elon Musk at a Neuralink presentation. Photo: Steve Jurvetson/flickr/CC

The 500 richest people on the planet collectively added $852 billion to their fortunes in the first half of 2023 due in large part to a record-breaking rally in the U.S. stock market.

According to a Bloomberg analysis of its Billionaires Index, the world’s richest people added an average of $14 million per day to their wealth over the past six months, “the best half-year for billionaires since the back half of 2020, when the economy rebounded from a Covid-induced slump.”

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Critics Slam Amazon’s Billion-Dollar ‘Corporate Welfare’ for Oregon Data Centers

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“No other retailer in U.S. history has come anywhere close to such enrichment at public expense,” asserted one opponent of the nine-figure subsidy.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 5-19-2023 by Common Dreams

One of Amazon’s data centers in eastern Oregon is seen here from the air in an company photo. (Photo: Amazon.com)

Opponents of a contentious $1 billion subsidy for online retail behemoth Amazon’s data centers in Oregon on Friday decried what one critic called “corporate welfare” for a company that raked in more than a half a trillion dollars in revenue last year.

Amazon already has four data centers in Morrow County, Oregon and plans on building six more Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud-computing facilities there. Earlier this month, Port of Morrow commissioners approved tax breaks for Amazon with an estimated value of $1 billion.

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John Roberts’ Wife Made Millions From Elite Law Firms, Major Companies: Whistleblower Docs

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“It almost makes you wonder whether the Supreme Court of the United States is suffering a massive, systemic ethics crisis,” said one critic.

By Julia Conley. Published 4-28-2023 by Common Dreams

Swearing in of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Photo: George W. Bush White House Archives

A whistleblower from the legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa says Jane Sullivan Roberts, the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, earned $10.3 million in commissions over seven years from her job as a headhunter at the company, where she placed attorneys with law firms—including at least one that argued a case before the Supreme Court after the placement was made.

Sullivan Roberts earned the money between 2007 and 2014, having taken a job with the company two years after her husband was confirmed to the Supreme Court, according to a report out Friday from Business Insider.

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Memo Exposes Renewable Energy Trade Group’s Close Ties to Fossil Fuel Industry

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“Despite its name, American Clean Power is yet another fossil fuel lobbying group trying to trick people into believing its greenwashing,” said one campaigner. “Any political leader who claims to care about the planet’s future should shun this organization.”

By Kenny Stancil. Published 4-20-2023 by Common Dreams

American Clean Power CEO Jason Grumet and Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) at Clean Power on the Hill on April 18 2023. Photo: American Clean Power/Twitter

The American Clean Power Association has been billed as “the nation’s top renewable energy trade group,” but lurking beneath its green luster is a dirty reality.

That’s according to the Revolving Door Project, which published a memo on Thursday to expose what is calls ACP’s “close ties to the fossil fuel industry and an ‘all of the above’ energy agenda that allows for massive new fossil fuel development and environmental damage, as long as clean energy also benefits.”

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A ‘Landmark Victory’ for Consumers and Climate as California Passes Big Oil Price Gouging Law

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“Whether it’s price gouging at the pump or drilling in people’s backyards, Big Oil’s days of harming our health and our pocketbooks must end,” said one advocate.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 3-28-2023 by Common Dreams

A pump in Gorda, California in 2021. Screenshot: KSBW

Climate and consumer advocates on Tuesday hailed California lawmakers’ passage of legislation aimed at tackling Big Oil price gouging as the proposal headed to the desk of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said he will sign the measure into law.

The California Assembly voted 52-19 on Monday in favor of S.B. X1-2—authored by state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-9)—which will empower the California Energy Commission (CEC) to impose profit caps and penalties on refiners and create an intra-agency watchdog tasked with conducting greater oversight of fossil fuel companies to minimize profiteering. Continue reading →

Feds ‘Cave to PG&E,’ Allowing California Nuclear Plant to Keep Operating Sans Safety Review

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“This is an ominous warning sign for how independent the NRC will be in evaluating the earthquake risk and the overall operational integrity of the Diablo Canyon reactors,” said one critic.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 3-3-2023 by Common Dreams

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Photo: dirtsailor2003/flickr/CC

In a move blasted by one environmental group as a “cave to PG&E,” the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday approved the criminal corporation’s continued operation of California’s last nuclear power plant without a renewed license or safety review while it seeks a 20-year-extension.

The NRC granted an “administrative” exception allowing the Diablo Canyon plant near Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County—which began operating in 1985—to remain operational under its current license beyond its scheduled 2025 closure date. The commission said in a statement that the exemption “will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense and security.” Continue reading →

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Category Archives: Corporate Personhood

Memo Exposes Renewable Energy Trade Group’s Close Ties to Fossil Fuel Industry

“Despite its name, American Clean Power is yet another fossil fuel lobbying group trying to trick people into believing its greenwashing,” said one campaigner. “Any political leader who claims to care about the planet’s future should shun this organization.”

Feds ‘Cave to PG&E,’ Allowing California Nuclear Plant to Keep Operating Sans Safety Review

“This is an ominous warning sign for how independent the NRC will be in evaluating the earthquake risk and the overall operational integrity of the Diablo Canyon reactors,” said one critic.