Legal Insurrection by Robert Stilson Monday, November 28, 2022
Understanding the influence of nonprofit activist groups and special interests is key to understanding the country’s sociopolitical landscapeThe Capital Research Center (CRC) works to shed light upon activist groups that seek to influence American public policy. Such groups are important to a healthy civil society, but the fact that many are not widely known—or their activities not widely understood—is problematic if one values a well-informed citizenry. To illustrate this, consider CRC’ s new report on the “Lawsuit Lobby,” or the organized special interests representing plaintiff-side trial lawyers.
In the 2020 election cycle, OpenSecrets rated sixteen of the twenty top political action committee (PAC) contributors to Democratic federal candidates as being either “solidly Democrat” or “leans Democrat” (the remaining four gave heavily to candidates from both parties). Of these sixteen PACs, one was affiliated with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and fourteen were associated with labor unions—a traditional and widely-recognized Democratic constituency. The lineup for 2022 looks very similar.
The last of those sixteen PACs, however, was rather different. It sent 97 percent of its contributions to Democratic candidates, yet it represents a constituency that most Americans probably don’t readily associate with Democratic politics: trial lawyers. Few are likely familiar with the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the membership association that lobbies on behalf of the professional interests of more than 20,000 plaintiff-side civil litigators nationwide. Fewer still understand what that means in practice. Indeed, the AAJ’s very name is unlikely to prompt thoughts of lawyers and lawsuits.
More:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/11/the-little-known-lawsuit-lobby/
