Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A federal judge has ruled a requirement that a Koch brothers' charitable foundation release tax information to the California attorney general that includes donor information is unconstitutional.     In a 12-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Manuel Real said that while the disclosure requirement was not "facially invalid," it is "unconstitutional as applied to Americans for Prosperity Foundation, especially in light of the requirement's burdens on the foundation's First Amendment rights."     The foundation, a conservative advocate of free-market economic policies, sued California Attorney General Kamala Harris in 2014 arguing that it should be allowed to keep donor names secret.     Backed by...

Hundreds of protesters flocked to the U.S. Capitol Monday for a demonstration against the role of money in politics, prompting arrests of more than 400 by the Capitol police force. The demonstration was part of a series of "Democracy Spring" protests planned in Washington this week by a coalition of groups. The demonstrators chanted slogans like "one person, one vote" and "money out of politics" as they sat on the East Front of the Capitol. One sign read "Things go better without Koch," a reference to the billionaire businessmen David and Charles Koch, who have promised to lead an almost...

Charles Koch is confident House Speaker Paul Ryan could emerge from the Republican National Convention as the party’s nominee if Donald Trump comes up at least 100 delegates shy, he has told friends privately. Koch believes Ryan would be a “shoo-in” at a contested convention, should the campaign get to that point. Though Koch’s wealth gives him significant influence within the Republican Party, it does not necessarily translate into skill in political prognostication. Still, he and his brother David are fond of Ryan. As a source close to the brothers told The Huffington Post, they appreciate the agenda he has...

Charles Koch is confident House Speaker Paul Ryan could emerge from the Republican National Convention as the party’s nominee if Donald Trump comes up at least 100 delegates shy, he has told friends privately. Koch believes Ryan would be a “shoo-in” at a contested convention, should the campaign get to that point. Though Koch's wealth gives him significant influence within the Republican Party, it does not necessarily translate into skill in political prognostication. Still, he and his brother David are fond of Ryan. As a source close to the brothers told the Huffington Post, they appreciate the agenda he has...

George Mason University will rename their law school "The Antonin Scalia School of Law" after receiving two donations totaling $30 million. These gifts are the largest in school history. While the name change isn't official yet, everything is expected to be switched to the new name by July. (To avoid the awkward acronym that many pointed out was formed by the new name, the school will probably be referred to as "Scalia Law School.") The change still needs a final go-ahead from Virginia’s higher education oversight agency, which is expected to give its blessing. The school’s dean expects that people...

The George Mason School of Law will be renamed in honor of the late U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who died earlier this year. The university announced Thursday that it has received $30 million in combined gifts to the George Mason Foundation to support the law school, the largest gift in the university’s history. The donations make possible three new scholarship programs. Twenty million dollars came from an anonymous donor, and $10 million came from the Charles Koch Foundation, which has given millions of dollars to colleges in the United States. The family is well known for its...

The Koch brothers, the most powerful conservative mega donors in the United States, will not use their $400 million political arsenal to try to block Republican front-runner Donald Trump's path to the presidential nomination, a spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. The decision by the billionaire industrialists is another setback to Republican establishment efforts to derail the New York real estate mogul's bid for the White House, and follows speculation the Kochs would soon launch a "Trump Intervention." "We have no plans to get involved in the primary," said James Davis, spokesman for Freedom Partners, the Koch brothers' political umbrella group....

NEW YORK, March 2 (Reuters) - The billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, the most powerful conservative mega donors in the United States, will not deploy their $400 million political arsenal to attack Republican front-runner Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential primary election, according to an official from the brother's political umbrella group. "We have no plans to get involved in the primary," said James Davis, spokesman for Freedom Partners, the Koch brothers' political umbrella group.

Marc Short, the Koch brothers’ top political adviser in Washington and a trusted member of their inner circle for five years, is making a surprise move to the Marco Rubio campaign as a senior adviser as the Republican establishment ramps up efforts to stop Donald Trump. Short — president of Freedom Partners, the Kochs’ umbrella political organization — will join the campaign in about a week and brings deep connections to the donor and grass-roots worlds.   “Marc has been running the most sophisticated political operation for the last few cycles, and really knows the mood of the electorate," said...

Mitt Romney is one step closer to entering the 2016 presidential race sources say, confirming what the-newshub.com reported last October that Romney would jump into the race after the first key primaries were held and some of the delegate dust had settled. Romney told Fox News on Wednesday that “We have good reason to believe that there’s a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes,” and quickly added that Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio should also disclose their tax information. Romney’s statement was a bowshot aimed at Trump, sources say, the surprise GOP frontrunner for whom Romney has unmitigated disdain.

The Donald Trump campaign began courting top staffers with the Koch-backed group Americans for Prosperity late last year, in order to bolster its ground game ahead of big primary nights in March, according to BuzzFeed News. The billionaire businessman's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is a former AFP state director whose intricate knowledge of New Hampshire paid dividends in that primary. One top AFP staffer in a March primary state said he was approached by Lewandowski, who told him Trump "was for real. He's going all the way." "Anecdotally, I'd say a lot of people have been approached," another source close...

Billionaire Charles Koch’s political network plans to spend hundreds of millions to back Republicans in 2016, but he has penned an article agreeing with Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders about an economic system he calls “rigged to help the privileged few.” “He believes we have a two-tiered society that increasingly dooms millions of our fellow citizens to lives of poverty and hopelessness,” he wrote in the Washington Post. “He thinks many corporations seek and benefit from corporate welfare while ordinary citizens are denied opportunities . . . I agree with him.” But Koch offered a solution Sanders was sure to reject — stop...

Most of the 500 wealthy conservatives gathered at a Southern California retreat this week know they want to see a Republican back in the White House, but many don't know what to do with the billionaire who wants to "make America great again." Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump was not at the biannual Charles and David Koch-organized conference over the weekend, but he was a constant presence on the minds of many here at the seminar hosted by the billionaire executives known for their active role in Republican politics.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said late Saturday that most Republicans are skeptical of climate change because billionaire donors David and Charles Koch tell them to be. "Most of them are not that ill-informed," she said during a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "They just have to do what the Koch brothers tell them. They say, 'don't believe your lying eyes - listen to us.' " Clinton warned America's economy would slip behind other nations if lawmakers keep debating climate change instead of acting. "Some country is going to be the 21st Century clean energy superpower," she said. "I...

Jane Mayer of The New Yorker has a new book out: “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.” It’s mostly about those old devils the Koch brothers. Charles and David Koch are billionaires. They own a very big company. They also are very prominent philanthropists, giving hundreds of millions to cancer research, concert halls and other worthy causes. But what makes them hated and feared by progressives such as Mayer is their political work. They help fund some organizations and foundations, some purely educational, some partisan. To listen to the left, they...

Dear Reader (including those of you born in Canada), I guess we should start there. I find this birther stuff to be a lot like women's prison movies: compelling, entertaining, and totally ridiculous. Other than the presidency, there's no place in American life where the distinction between "naturalized" and "natural-born" citizenship matters. But imagine if it did? Imagine that your American-born mother just happened to give birth to you in Canada or Belize while on vacation. Your American-born mom and dad bring you home days later and raise you exactly as they would have had they been in Cleveland the...

Charles Koch is “disappointed” with the line-up of Republican candidates in the 2016 cycle, and is surprised by the lack of influence he and his brother have wielded so far. In an interview with the Financial Times, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist, said he’ll eventually support a candidate who he agrees with on some things with, but that it’s hard to get excited. He said a list presented to all the candidates about the Kochs' political arm's priorities “doesn’t seem to faze them much. You’d think we could have more influence.”

The Soros-Koch Brothers Criminals Lobby At a time of rising crime across the nation, Dr. Tina Trent exposes how George Soros and the Koch Brothers have joined forces to empty the prisons of illegal aliens and other criminals. Trent says the Koch Brothers are libertarians, not conservatives, and that "They're more like George Soros than not." The bills they are pushing are S. 2123 and H.R. 3713. Trent, an advocate for victims of crime, says the "criminal justice reform" legislation will modify the mandatory minimum sentences that have been put hardened criminals in jail and reduced crime. But many conservatives...

A veterans advocacy group is criticizing the plan to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released by Donald Trump. Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) said the plan was “heavy of rhetoric, light on specifics” in a statement on Saturday.

One of Germany’s representatives at the worldwide meeting of Catholic prelates on family has pointedly told the gathering that church teaching preventing divorced and remarried persons from receiving the Eucharist makes people “doubt God.” Berlin Archbishop Heiner Koch has used his 3-minute address during the deliberations to directly address one of the issues known to be creating the most disagreement among the prelates, saying he is often asked why remarried couples are barred from the Eucharistic table. The church’s theological arguments “do not silence the questions in the hearts of people,” Koch told the assembly. “Is there no place at...