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Man Arrested For Protesting Outside Federalist Society Chief's House Earns $62.5K Settlement From The Cops

Leonard Leo got a protester arrested. The protester secured the last laugh.

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Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society is a master of funding support for conservative judges.

Leonard Leo (Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Leonard Leo sits atop a dark money empire with upwards of $1.6 billion committed to spamming the federal judiciary with unqualified lackeys and funneling under-the-table cash to Ginni Thomas. Whenever you wonder how someone like Aileen Cannon can be trusted to serve as a judge for a hot dog eating contest let alone a federal district court, the answer is Leonard Leo.

When protesters set up outside his home in Maine to point out that he’s the mastermind behind the systematic erasure of America’s constitutional freedoms, Leo called the cops. Leo specifically asked police to press charges against one Eli Durand-McDonnell, who Leo characterized as “harassing” him, citing an incident where Durand-McDonnell called him a “fucking asshole” on a public street and that this made his family “distraught.” I dunno, has Leo considered just not being a fucking asshole? That might avoid these situations too.

Durand-McDonnell noted to the New Yorker at the time that “the rules don’t apply to Leonard Leo. He can use this insane amount of money and influence and be a big shot, and throw his weight around. And, if he doesn’t agree with what someone else says, it’s no longer free speech.”

For his part, Leo said the protest was “no longer a political protest… when they have ‘Fuck Leo’ signs.”

As it happens, such a protest is still very much a political protest. Which the local authorities found out to their detriment when Durand-McDonnell sued and the town was forced to settle.

A records request from the Bangor Daily News revealed the details:

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A Bar Harbor man who sued police after he was arrested at a protest outside conservative legal activist Leonard Leo’s home on Mount Desert Island received $62,500 in a settlement with the officers who handcuffed him and took him to jail.

Eli Durand-McDonnell was arrested as he and others were protesting in Northeast Harbor in July 2022 over Leo’s influence in getting the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn federal protections that made abortion legal.

The settlement includes provisions barring the parties from disparaging each other.

There are, of course, protests that can go too far. You can’t protest in someone’s house as we’ve had occasion to recently explain. You can’t protest at all hours of the night. But you absolutely can say “Fuck Leo” in a public place and not have the cops descend upon you.

Some of Leo’s favorite client judges have spent the last couple years pitching a new vision of free speech as a bulwark to protect the powerful from the relatively weak. Under this authoritarian speech model, “free speech” concerns itself with clearing the channels of communication so powerful, monied speakers encountering any criticism in delivering whatever message they wish — through punitive force if necessary.

But despite their wishful thinking, that’s not how the law actually works… yet.

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Man arrested at Leonard Leo protest gets $62.5K settlement [Bangor Daily News]

Earlier: Federalist Society Mastermind Has A Real Problem With The First Amendment When It’s Speech He Doesn’t Like
That Perfectly Innocent Way One Funnels Money To The Spouse Of A Supreme Court Justice While Trying To Avoid A Paper Trail

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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