Wikipedia

Landmark Legal Foundation

TheLandmark Legal Foundationis an American501(c)(3)nonprofitconservative legal advocacy group.[1]The President as of 2018 isRichard P. Hutchison.Through litigation and direct interfacing with government agencies, Landmark Legal advances a conservative platform oflimited government,a key concept in thehistory of liberalism,protectingindividual rights,defendingfree enterprise,and exposing teachers' unionfraud.It has litigated a number of cases up to and before theUS Supreme Court.[2]

History

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Landmark was founded in 1976 as an offshoot of TheNational Legal Center for the Public Interestwith its focus on protecting individual rights, challenging the scope and authority of government, defending free enterprise, and exposing teachers' union fraud.[3]Landmark has made efforts to scale back funding for non-profits which it holds to be political in nature but list no political expenditures on tax forms. TheNational Education Associationhas often been the subject of complaints to the IRS made by Landmark Legal. Throughout its history Landmark Legal Foundation has filed lawsuits against labor unions and has fought for legislation that would allow parents to direct public education funding toward their children's private schools, homeschooling, or school of choice.

In 1990, Landmark was involved in a civil rights court case when it questioned the legality of taxes to pay for the effect of segregation in Kansas City; the case went to the Supreme Court, which decided the taxes were legal.[4]

During thepresidency of Bill Clinton,Landmark Legal unsuccessfully requested anindependent counselto investigate the role of Vice PresidentAl Gorewith an event hosted at a California Buddhist temple that was at the center of the1996 United States campaign finance controversy.Landmark also filed a lawsuit against theInternal Revenue Service(IRS) that alleged that the IRS targeted conservative groups for audits at the request of government officials.[5]When theimpeachment of Bill Clintonbegan, Landmark Legal actively played a role in scrutinizing government actions. In 1998, Landmark called for a federal probe about ties between the websiteSalonand Justice Department officials that the foundation accused of illegally leaking information; Levin called Salon "a mouthpiece for the [Clinton] administration."[6]A federal appeals court rejected a request by Landmark Legal in 1999 to block a Justice Department investigation of special counselKen Starrfor alleged misconduct in the impeachment inquiry.[7]

In 2000, Landmark Legal filed a complaint with theFederal Election Commissionalleging that theNational Education Association,the largest teachers' union in the U.S., did not disclose spending on political activity inInternal Revenue Servicedocumentation.[8]Landmark Legal also filed similar complaints with theUnited States Department of Laborin 2002 regarding NEA and political activity; by 2006, the NEA and smallerAmerican Federation of Teachershad filed new documents with the Labor Department revealing over $100 million combined in political action spending.[9]

In 2007 the Landmark Legal Foundation nominated commentatorRush Limbaugh,who sat as an unpaid member of its advisory board, for aNobel Peace Prize.[10]

In 2016, the director of Penn State Earth System Science Center, climatologistMichael E. Mann,named Landmark as part of an alleged smear campaign against him after his testimony on theC-SPANTV network about the threat of human-caused climate change.[11][12]

In 2015, a federal judge found that theEnvironmental Protection Agencyhad handled Landmark's 2012 Freedom of Information Act request in a "suspicious" manner, but the judge did not impose sanctions because Landmark had not established that the EPA acted in bad faith.[13]

Supreme Court of ArizonaJusticeClint Bolickhas worked for the foundation.[14]FormerWhitewater_controversyspecial investigatorKenneth Starrhas also worked with Landmark.[15]Former U.S. Attorney General and counselor to President ReaganEdwin Meeseis currently the Second Vice Chairman of Landmark Legal Foundation.[16]

Leadership and staff

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Kansas City attorney Jerald L. Hill served as president of Landmark Legal from 1985 to 1997. From 1997 to 2018,Mark Levinserved as president.[17]Since 2018, Pete Hutchison has been president of Landmark Legal.[18]

A formerWhite Houseofficial during thepresidency of Ronald Reagan,Levin joined Landmark in 1991 and previously served as director of legal policy and the foundation's Washington-based Center for Civil Rights before becoming president.[19][20]In 2001 theAmerican Conservative Unionawarded Levin its Ronald Reagan Award for his work with Landmark Legal.[21][22]Levin would go on to become a bestselling author and host of the nationally syndicated talk radio programThe Mark Levin ShowandFox News ChannelprogramLife, Liberty & Levin;after stepping down as president, he continues to serve Landmark Legal as a member of its board of directors.[23]

After serving in theEqual Employment Opportunity CommissionunderClarence Thomas,Clint Bolickserved as the director of Landmark Legal's Center for Civil Rights from 1988 to 1991.[24][25][26]In seeking an alternative toaffirmative action,Bolick advocated that "the conservative cause on civil rights was better served by identifying blacks, not whites, as its beneficiaries," wrote Steven M. Teles in 2008.[26]Bolick went on to become co-founding vice president at theInstitute for Justiceand Associate Justice of theArizona Supreme Court.[24]

Former U.S. Attorney GeneralEdwin Meesealso serves on the board of directors. The foundation's advisory board includesHillsdale CollegepresidentLarry P. Arnnand syndicated columnist andGeorge Mason Universityeconomics professorWalter E. Williams.[23]

Organization and funding

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The Landmark Legal Foundation is a501(c)(3)non-profit organization.[27]As of 2017, Landmark Legal had an annual budget of nearly $1.6 million, with nearly 99 percent of funding coming from charitable contributions.[27]Landmark Legal does not accept government funding.[28]

In the 1990s,Richard Mellon Scaifewas a major donor to Landmark Legal.[5]Scaife gave $525,000 to Landmark Legal in 1997.[29]TheCoors brewing familyof Colorado has also donated to Landmark Legal.[30]Right wing conservative billionaireTimothy Mellonsupports Landmark Legal; In 2016, he offered donations to the Foundation for each download of his autobiography.[31]

Notes

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  1. ^Organizational ProfileArchived2016-01-26 at theWayback Machine–National Center for Charitable Statistics(Urban Institute)
  2. ^Landmark Legal Foundation on corporatepolicy.org
  3. ^"Landmark Legal Foundation".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-06-25.Retrieved2007-07-18.
  4. ^Robbins, William; Times, Special To the New York (1990-04-19)."Kansas City Rights Leaders Praise Supreme Court Ruling".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2019-10-23.
  5. ^abSegal, David (January 26, 1998)."Dream Case Is a Burden, Lawyer Finds".The Washington Post.p. A09.Archivedfrom the original on September 15, 2000.RetrievedApril 23,2020.
  6. ^Kurtz, Howard (April 24, 1998)."Whitewater Mud Hits the Messengers".The Washington Post.p. B01.Archivedfrom the original on September 15, 2000.RetrievedApril 23,2020.
  7. ^Suro, Roberto (March 19, 1999)."Justice Investigation of Starr Approved".The Washington Post.p. A10.Archivedfrom the original on September 15, 2000.RetrievedApril 23,2020.
  8. ^Archer, Jeff (November 1, 2000)."Complaints Point Up 'Murky' Areas In Union Activism".Education Week.Archived fromthe originalon January 11, 2002.
  9. ^Keller, Bess; Honawar, Vaishali (January 10, 2006)."Union Filings Give In-Depth Look at Spending Patterns".Education Week.Vol. 25, no. 18. Archived fromthe originalon January 21, 2020.
  10. ^"Landmark Legal Foundation Nominates Rush Limbaugh for 2007 Nobel Peace Prize".
  11. ^Mann, Michael E. (2016-07-15)."'Anatomy of a Smear' or 'How the Right Wing Denial Machine Distorts The Climate Change Discourse'".HuffPost.Retrieved2019-10-23.
  12. ^"Democratic Platform Drafting Committee Hearing, Day 1, Part 1 | C-SPAN.org".c-span.org.Retrieved2019-10-23.
  13. ^Hsu, Spencer S. (2015-03-02)."Judge blasts EPA for 'suspicious' handling of conservative group's FOIA".Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.Retrieved2019-10-23.
  14. ^Steven Teles, 'Compassionate Conservatism, Domestic Policy, and the Politics of Ideational Change', inCrisis of Conservatism? The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, & American Politics After Bush,Gillian Peele, Joel D. Aberbach (eds.), Oxford:Oxford University Press,2011, p. 198
  15. ^Schlosser, Eric (1998-03-20)."Tales from the Inquisition The Prosecutor".Rolling Stone.Retrieved2019-10-23.
  16. ^"OUR STAFF".landmarklegal.Retrieved2019-10-23.
  17. ^"Landmark Legal Foundation: Forceful Advocacy for Over 20 Years",Landmark Legal Foundation Newsletter,vol. 1, no. 1, Fall 1997, archived fromthe originalon February 24, 1999,retrievedJanuary 20,2020
  18. ^"Landmark Legal Fdn. Files Complaint Against California Over Non-Citizen Voting".Landmark Legal Foundation. February 15, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 20,2020.
  19. ^Levin, Mark R. [@marklevinshow] (October 29, 2019)."Check out Landmark Legal Foundation's website, a fantastic conservative legal group I've been associated with for 28 years!"(Tweet).RetrievedApril 23,2020– viaTwitter.
  20. ^"Landmark Senior Staff".Landmark Legal Foundation. Archived fromthe originalon July 9, 1997.RetrievedJanuary 20,2020.
  21. ^"Ronald Reagan Award Presented to Landmark's President Mark Levin".Landmark Legal Foundation. February 21, 2001. Archived from the original on April 8, 2001.RetrievedJanuary 19,2020.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).
  22. ^"Ronald Reagan Banquet | C-SPAN.org".
  23. ^ab"People | Landmark Legal Fdtn".landmarklegal.org.Archived fromthe originalon 2020-01-19.
  24. ^ab"Justice Clint Bolick".Arizona Judicial Branch.RetrievedApril 23,2020.
  25. ^Bolick, Clint (1991),"Opportunity 2000: Making Affirmative Action Truly 'Affirmative'",The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, First Session...July 13, 1989,Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, pp. 49–61,ISBN1400829690– via Google Books
  26. ^abTeles, Steven M. (2008).The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement: The Battle for Control of the Law.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 85–88.ISBN978-0-691-122083– via Google Books.
  27. ^ab"Nonprofit Explorer: Landmark Legal Foundation".ProPublica. 9 May 2013.RetrievedApril 23,2020.
  28. ^Levin, Mark (December 1, 2016)."Landmark Legal does not receive a penny of government money, nor would ever accept it..."Facebook.RetrievedApril 23,2020.
  29. ^Segal, David (June 10, 1998)."Foundation Gave $550,000 To Anti-Clinton Group".The Washington Post.p. A06.Archivedfrom the original on August 16, 2000.RetrievedApril 23,2020.
  30. ^Thornburg, Ryan (August 24, 1998)."Blue Dog, Brewer Differ on Clinton Scandal".Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on August 19, 2000.RetrievedApril 23,2020.
  31. ^Mancuso, Christina (2016-02-09)."Timothy Mellon Releases Autobiography".BroadwayWorld.Retrieved2024-08-23.
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