How the right works together to ruin everything
by digby
I had no idea how this sort of thing worked but it's fascinating. I think I would have expected the right wing organizations to coordinate on lawsuits, but the fact that they coordinate with state government officials is a surprise. (Like I said, I know nothing of how this works so perhaps my surprise is silly and it happens all the time on all sides.)
In any case, if you thought the Hobby Lobby "religious freedom" case is just about religious freedom think again. The various participants include corporate interests whose only concern is profits:
In the world of big lawsuits, they call it “air traffic control”: One person, or organization, becomes the point person for recruiting plaintiffs, coordinating multiple legal briefs, and ensuring that everyone submits their filings on time.
And in the landmark case going before the U.S. Supreme Court this Tuesday, challenging the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act—the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood cases, which are being heard together—the role of air traffic controller was played by some of the nation’s most radical anti-choice and free-market groups on the political right, according to emails obtained by RH Reality Check through public records requests.
The documents consist of emails between dozens of anti-choice and free-market groups, and high-level state employees in Ohio, Michigan, Alabama, and West Virginia. They reveal that the role of air traffic control in the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga litigation was played by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based nonprofit with just over $40 million in assets, according to its most recent auditor’s report.
“My name is Anna Hayes, and I’m a legal assistant at Alliance Defending Freedom working with Matt Bowman and Greg Baylor on the HHS Mandate cases,” read one email dated August 16, 2013. The “mandate” refers to the health law’s requirement that insurance policies cover a range of primary preventive care, including contraception, without a copay. The inclusion of contraception in policies—irrespective of who pays the premiums—is at the center of the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Supreme Court cases. “Greg asked me to contact you letting you know that he will be coordinating the amicus efforts for the Conestoga Wood case.”
They are coordinating with federal officials like Ted Cruz as well.
Read the whole thing. I don't know for a fact that the left doesn't coordinate this efficiently across the non-profit, corporate and government sectors ... but I doubt it.
Read the whole story at RH reality check
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