GUN RIGHTS CASE PROMPTS SPLIT AT LAW FIRM: “Two of the lawyers responsible for a major victory for gun rights forces at the Supreme Court on Thursday are parting with their prominent law firm after it announced it would no longer handle Second Amendment litigation,” our Josh Gerstein reports. — “Former Solicitor General Paul Clement and Erin Murphy, a regular Supreme Court litigator, said they were launching their own firm after Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis decided to step back from gun-related litigation.” — “‘We were given a stark choice: either withdraw from ongoing representations or withdraw from the firm,” Clement said in a statement. ‘Anyone who knows us and our views regarding professional responsibility and client loyalty knows there was only one course open to us: We could not abandon ongoing representations just because a client’s position is unpopular in some circles.’ Through a firm spokesperson, Kirkland confirmed its decision but did not explain its rationale for dropping gun cases.” THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE: “Tech groups and their allies are spending huge amounts on TV and digital ads in an all-out war against Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s tech antitrust bill. The flood of money isn’t surprising, but the Washington players helping them spend it are. Silicon Valley is relying on many of the same firms that helped elect lawmakers to influence those same politicians,” Protocol’s Ben Brody writes. — “This collision of capitalism and the Capitol raises questions about whose interests the consultants are serving when the goals of their political clients diverge from those of lucrative corporate accounts.” — “According to a Protocol review of public spending disclosures, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a Big Tech trade group that has reportedly spent more than $23 million trying to sink Klobuchar’s bill and similar efforts, has worked with Democratic ad-makers to place many of those TV spots,” while other Democratic firms like SKDK have worked for Amazon and worked on other tech-fronted initiatives. — Brody notes, though, that “with Democrats in power, it’s natural to scrutinize the firms that cater to them. But the relationships with Big Tech are ubiquitous on the right, too. Targeted Victory, the GOP answer to the Democrats’ early-2010s digital advantages, helped place op-eds on behalf of Meta that portrayed its rival TikTok in a negative light, according to a Washington Post report earlier this year. And NetChoice, the Big Tech lobbying association that works primarily to court conservatives and push back on tech-skeptical Republicans, has worked with the Trump-allied communications firm Nahigian Strategies.” — “For now, though, the companies’ relationships with Republicans don’t help them with the party in control of Congress and the White House. … Democrats are expected to suffer losses in Congress in the midterm elections, however, and the GOP is beginning to outline its own anti-tech agenda. Soon enough, the Democratic firms may have to make do with less corporate work and more campaigns.” PROGRESSIVE STRATEGISTS REVOLT OVER CARUSO WORK: “One of the country’s leading progressive digital firms has been embroiled for months in internal staff turmoil over the work it’s done on behalf of Los Angeles mayoral contender Rick Caruso,” POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs reports, just the latest instance in which progressive staffers have clashed with their bosses over their organization’s broader mission. — “At least two employees at the firm, Aisle 518 Strategies , have left, in part because of its association with the billionaire real estate developer who has bankrolled Republicans and backed anti-abortion politicians before deciding to run as a Democrat in the mayoral primary this year.” — “Those former employees, who spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity, said only a handful of those currently on the firm’s roughly 20-person staff are willing to work on the Caruso campaign account. ‘We’re all working for this kind of a company because we believe in those ideals, and for the CEO to take on a client that very much clearly goes against that goal is kind of like a slap in the face to all of the work that we do and to all of our other clients,’ said one of the employees who left.” — “Despite the staff uproar, which began early this year, Aisle 518 Strategies has not dropped Caruso, with leadership noting to the staffers who complained that they have a roster of unimpeachable progressive clients as well. CEO Tim Tagaris, who built Sen. Bernie Sanders ’ (I-Vt.) pioneering fundraising operations in 2016 before launching the firm, declined to comment specifically on the concerns raised by staff, including those who left.” BARRACK LOSES BID TO DISMISS CASE: “A billionaire fundraiser for former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday lost a bid to dismiss criminal charges he lobbied the U.S. government on behalf of the United Arab Emirates without disclosing his affiliation,” Reuters reports. — “Thomas Barrack, the former head of investment management firm Colony Capital and chair of Trump's inaugural committee, had pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal lobbying and lying to U.S. law enforcement, and faces a September trial. His lawyers had asked U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn to dismiss the indictment, arguing prosecutors did not allege that Barrack owed a duty to or had a formal agreement with the UAE.” — “But in a 55-page decision, Cogan said the relationship between Barrack and the UAE ‘need not rise to the level of a formalized employer-employee relationship’ to justify the charge. Last month, prosecutors unveiled new charges accusing Barrack of having sought investment from the UAE at the same time he was lobbying for the Gulf country." SPOTTED at the Women Who ROKK launch event hosted by ROKK Solutions at the Anheuser-Busch office, per a PI tipster: Melissa Ameluxen, David Caruolo and Teresa Skala of Anheuser-Busch; Megan Dekraker and Nick Paradiso of National Heritage Academies; Appu Esthose Suresh of Pixstory; Megan Whittemore of Corning Incorporated; Cori Kramer of Center Forward; Amy Andryszak of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and the INGAA Foundation; Lisa Singh of the Australia India Institute; Jeff Ziarko of Economic Policy Strategies; Mike Layman of the International Franchise Association; Karly Matthews of the American Conservation Coalition; Julia Gustafson of the Council for Responsible Nutrition; Sydney Gallego of the National Association of Realtors; Grace Rodden of Gilead Sciences; Taylor Booth of Novartis; Courtney Temple of Meta; Maria Giannopoulos of Google; Susan Haney and Annie Starke of The Beer Institute; Anu Rangappa of Monumental Sports & Entertainment; Erica Pyatt of LinkedIn; Ann Marie Hauser of The Hudson Institute; Margaret Peterlin of George Mason University's National Security Institute; Jo Maney of BGR; and Ron Bonjean, Rodell Mollineau and Kristen Hawn of ROKK Solutions.
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