Thomas Catenacci of the Washington Free Beacon reports interesting information about California’s legal battle against oil companies.
When California sued the nation’s largest oil companies in 2023 for allegedly causing global warming, the state’s attorney general Rob Bonta (D.) vowed to “fight tirelessly on behalf of all Californians.” But Bonta quickly awarded a lucrative million-dollar contract to a liberal law firm to represent California in the case and do the fighting for him.
That outside law firm, the San Francisco-based Lieff Cabraser, has for years been politically connected to high-profile Democrats, including Bonta and, according to state and federal disclosures reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, has given large campaign donations almost exclusively to Democratic candidates.
In 2024 alone, firm partner Elizabeth Cabraser gave $620,000 to former vice president Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and another $110,900 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Lieff Cabraser also donated $50,000 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association in both 2023 and 2024. Bonta has served as a member of the group’s executive committee since 2023.
Overall, since 2020, Lieff Cabraser’s attorneys have donated more than $5 million to Democrats nationwide and $88,760 to Democratic campaigns in California while the firm itself has given more than $200,000 to Democrats nationwide and $72,700 to Democrats in California. The firm didn’t make any contributions to Republicans during that time period, state and federal election data show. The firm boasts other ties to Democrats as well, authoring a Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of several Senate Democrats in 2021, for example.
Lieff Cabraser’s political activity raises questions about whether Bonta hired the firm based on merit or because of its extensive ties to his party. The firm has little experience with such climate litigation. Bonta has already hired Sher Edling, another San Francisco-based law firm, which has far more experience with the litigation.
