CBS News
Leonard Leo won’t comply with Senate Democrats’ subpoena in Supreme Court ethics probe
Washington — Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo said he will not comply with a subpoena issued by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of their ongoing investigation into ethics practices at the Supreme Court.
The subpoena was issued to Leo by Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin on Thursday, months after Democrats on the panel voted to authorize it. Durbin has been looking into ethics issues at the high court for roughly a year following a series of reports that revealed Justice Clarence Thomas took luxury trips with a Republican megadonor, Harlan Crow, and did not disclose them. Crow, a Texas real estate developer, did not receive a subpoena from Durbin, a spokesman for Crow said.
“Mr. Leo has played a central role in the ethics crisis plaguing the Supreme Court and, unlike the other recipients of information requests in this matter, he has done nothing but stonewall the committee,” Durbin said in a statement. “This subpoena is a direct result of Mr. Leo’s own actions and choices.”
Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said that Leo’s “outright defiance left the Committee with no other choice but to move forward with compulsory process.”
Leo’s lawyer, David Rivkin, told Durbin in a letter Thursday that his client is not complying with the “unlawful and politically motivated subpoena” he received.
“I am not capitulating to his lawless support of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and the left’s dark money effort to silence and cancel political opposition,” Leo, who has played a crucial role in the confirmations of several of the conservative Supreme Court justices, said in a statement. Leo is the co-chairman of the conservative Federalist Society.
Carolyn Kaster / AP
A Judiciary Committee aide said that in the event of noncompliance, there are options available to the Senate to enforce the subpoena.
Senate Democrats’ investigation
Democrats on the panel voted in late November to approve the subpoenas to Leo and Crow, whose decades-long relationship with Thomas has come under scrutiny.
It’s unclear why the subpoena wasn’t issued to Leo until months after it was approved by all 11 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee.
Republicans have lambasted their Democratic colleagues for pursuing the demands for information, which they claimed was part of an effort to undermine the Supreme Court by targeting private citizens. GOP senators have also denounced Democrats’ investigation into ethics issues at the high court as an attack on the court’s integrity following blockbuster decisions on abortion, gun rights and affirmative action.
Democrats are seeking documents about gifts, trips and lodging provided to any member of the high court. Leo and Crow’s involvement in luxury trips provided to Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito were revealed last year.
The Judiciary Committee launched its probe in April 2023 following a series of reports from the investigative news outlet ProPublica that revealed trips Thomas took aboard Crow’s private plane and yacht, and luxury vacations the justice accepted from Crow over their 25-year friendship.
Thomas did not disclose the travel on his annual financial disclosure forms, and said in response to the revelations that he did not believe he had to do so under exemptions for personal hospitality.
Alito, meanwhile, traveled to Alaska for a luxury fishing trip in 2008 aboard a private jet provided by GOP donor Paul Singer, and accepted lodging from Robin Arkley, the owner of a California mortgage company and another GOP donor. Alito also did not disclose the trip, but refuted that it should have been reported, also citing exceptions for personal hospitality.
Following the reports of Thomas and Alito’s trips, the Judiciary Committee requested information from Crow, Leo and Arkley. Leo has repeatedly declined the committee’s request, and his lawyer told the panel in a letter Oct. 19 that its inquiry lacked a valid legislative purpose.
Crow offered to provide the Judiciary Committee with limited information, though it did not satisfy Senate Democrats.
Republicans have defended Thomas and Alito and accused Democrats of unfairly focusing on them while ignoring revelations from the Associated Press that Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s court staff pushed public institutions to purchase her books, and that the justice declined to recuse herself from copyright cases before the court that involved her book publisher. Justice Neil Gorsuch also did not step aside in a case involving the publisher of his 2019 book.
Thomas’ ties to Crow in particular created mounting pressure on the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics. Last summer, the Judiciary Committee advanced legislation along party lines that would require the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable set of ethics rules. The court announced in November that it had adopted for the first time a formal code of conduct, though it does not include an enforcement mechanism.
Floodwaters pushed by the remnants of Hurricane Helene left North Carolina’s largest mountain city largely cut off Saturday by damaged roads and a lack of power and cellphone service, part of a swath of destruction across southern Appalachia that left an unknown number dead and countless worried relatives unable to reach loved ones.
In North Carolina alone, more than 400 roads remained closed on Saturday as floodwaters began to recede and reveal the extent of damage. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said that supplies were being airlifted to that part of the state. Cooper said two people died in his state, Helene killed at least 52 people across multiple states.
Among those rescued from rising waters was nurse Janetta Barfield, whose car was swamped on Friday morning as she left an overnight shift at Asheville’s Mission Hospital. She said she watched a car in front of her drive through standing water and thought it was safe to proceed. But her car stalled, and within minutes water had filled her front seat up to her chest. A nearby police officer who saw her car stall helped her to safety.
“It was unbelievable how fast that creek got just in like five minutes,” Barfield said.
Erik Verduzco / AP
Early on Saturday morning, many gas stations were closed because they didn’t have electricity, and the few that were open had hourlong lines wrapped around the block. The hub of tourism and arts, home to about 94,000 people, was unusually still after floodwaters swamped neighborhoods known for drawing visitors including Biltmore Village and the River Arts District, which is home to numerous galleries, shops and breweries.
More than 700,000 power customers were without power across North Carolina, including 160,000 in Buncombe County. Interstate 40 and I-26 were impassible in multiple locations, and a state transportation department map showed that most routes into Asheville and across much of the mountains were snarled. North Carolina’s Department of Transportation posted on social media on Saturday afternoon that “all roads in Western North Carolina should be considered closed.”
In Asheville, there was no cellular service and no timeline for when it would be restored.
“We have had some loss of life,” County Emergency Services Director Van Taylor Jones told reporters. However, he said they were not ready to report any specifics. Officials have been hindered in contacting next of kin by the communications outages. Asheville police instituted a curfew from 7:30 p.m. Friday to 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
“The curfew is to ensure the public’s safety and will be in effect until further notice,” police said.
Asheville transit services were also suspended, police said. The city advised residents to boil “all water used for human consumption,” as there was at least one significant water line break during the storm. Many residents might not be getting water or reduced or no pressure water.
Jones said the area experienced a cascade of emergencies that included heavy rain, high winds and mudslides. Officials said they tried to prepare for the storm but its magnitude was beyond what they could have imagined.
“It’s not that we (were) not prepared, but this is going to another level,” Sheriff Quentin Miller said. “To say this caught us off-guard would be an understatement.”
Erik Verduzco / AP
Atlanta resident Francine Cavanaugh said she has been unable to reach her sister, son, or friends in the Asheville area.
“My sister checked in with me yesterday morning to find out how I was in Atlanta,” she said on Saturday. “The storm was just hitting her in Asheville, and she said it sounded really scary outside.”
Cavanaugh said her sister had no idea how bad the storm would be there. She told Cavanaugh she was going to head out to check on guests at a vacation cabin “and that’s the last I heard of her. I’ve been texting everyone that I know with no response. All phone calls go directly to voicemail.”
The CEO of a hospital operator that filed for bankruptcy protection in May will step down after failing to testify before a U.S. Senate panel.
Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre has overseen a network of some 30 hospitals around the country. The Texas-based company’s troubled recent history has drawn scrutiny from elected officials in New England, where some of its hospitals are located.
A spokesperson for de la Torre told the Associated Press Saturday that he “has amicably separated from Steward on mutually agreeable terms” and “will continue to be a tireless advocate for the improvement of reimbursement rates for the underprivileged patient population.”
A CBS News investigation that spanned nearly two years documented how private equity investors and de la Torre extracted hundreds of millions of dollars while healthcare workers and patients struggled to get the life-saving supplies they needed.
In August, the company closed two Massachusetts hospitals, leaving about 1,200 workers jobless, according to the state.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said earlier this month that Congress “will hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his greed and for the damage he has caused to hospitals and patients throughout America.”
De la Torre’s resignation is effective Oct. 1. The Senate approved a resolution on Wednesday that was intended to hold him in criminal contempt for failing to testify before a committee.
The Senate panel has been looking into Steward’s bankruptcy. De la Torre did not appear before it despite being issued a subpoena. The resolution refers the matter to a federal prosecutor.
Kayla Bartkowski/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
CBS News
Climate Watch: Protecting the Planet | How climate change threatens plant and animal species
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
North Carolina’s Asheville devastated after Helene’s damage cuts power, floods roads
Embattled Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre to resign
Trump is set to respond to Harris on immigration during his visit to a small Wisconsin town
North Carolina’s Asheville devastated after Helene’s damage cuts power, floods roads