The political fallout from the climate lawsuit filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in 2020 continues as the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports the case “has become a campaign issue” in the state’s attorney general’s race less than three months before Election Day “as Ellison defends his seat this year.”

The coverage from the Star Tribune – the state’s flagship newspaper – firmly pushes the issue into the heart of the political debate as Ellison’s Republican challenger, Jim Schultz, blasted the lawsuit:

“Schultz … has made an issue of the suit on the campaign trail. In an interview, he described it as ‘frivolous’ and said the Attorney General’s Office should focus on violent crime by hiring more prosecutors in that area.

“‘It has zero chance at succeeding,’ Schultz said of the fossil fuel lawsuit. ‘It’s fundamentally motivated by headlines and pleasing one side of the political aisle.’” (emphasis added)

The story has even gone national, with Fox News picking up on the Star Tribune’s coverage.

But the Star Tribune hasn’t covered the case closely thus far, and the story left out many of the reasons the case has become such a lightning rod issue in the attorney general’s race.

Leonardo DiCaprio Funding Ellison’s Outside Counsel

First, the Star Tribune ignored the bombshell news that landed just a few days earlier when Fox News  reported that Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio was an integral part of the climate litigation campaign from the very beginning, funneling financial resources through a dark money group to Sher Edling – the San Francisco-based law firm hired by Ellison to serve as outside counsel.

When Ellison announced Minnesota’s climate case in June 2020, it was not disclosed to the public that Ellison had hired Sher Edling, a national firm representing nearly two dozen climate cases around the country. In fact, it wasn’t until December of that year when the private law firm’s role was revealed through court documents. The contract between Ellison and Sher Edling states the firm could be in for a massive payday:

“Subject to the modifications provided in [sic] paragraphs 7 below, payment for legal services covered by this Agreement shall be based on the following contingency fee percentage of the dollars recovered in this case: Special Attorneys shall be paid 16.67% of the first $150 million recovered, and 7.5% for any portion greater than $150 million. The recovery of fees is based on a percentage of the net sum recovered by the State of Minnesota, after deducting reimbursable costs…” (emphasis added)

The recent Fox News reporting reveals that Sher Edling has been receiving third-party funds this whole time, including from DiCaprio, even while it was negotiating lucrative contingency fee arrangements with public-sector clients. After the story broke, Schultz called out the “Hollywood” money supporting Ellison:

Bloomberg-Funded Attorneys Boosting Ellison’s Case

Second, the Star Tribune never fully explains why the lawsuit became such a hot button campaign issue in the first place. Controversy over the suit has primarily arisen from Ellison’s use of two Special Assistant Attorneys General in his office whose salaries are paid for by the New York University School of Law’s State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, which was started with a $5.6 million grant from Michael Bloomberg.

These Bloomberg-funded attorneys played a critical role in drafting the lawsuit and Ellison thanked them for their “excellent, excellent work” when announcing the case.

The blowback was fierce. The Minnesota State Senate considered legislation that would block the attorney general from hiring attorneys who are paid by private parties, instead of by the taxpayer, as this raises questions about their loyalties. Legal Newsline reported earlier this year on the controversy over privately-funded attorneys conducting the business of the state:

“The Minnesota State Senate on Wednesday advanced a bill designed to limit the hiring by the Attorney General’s office of outside attorneys who could be politically motivated by the nonprofits and agencies that provide them.” (emphasis added)

Then in March, during a Republican attorney general primary debate, all three candidates, including Schultz, clearly stated that if elected, they wouldn’t allow the Bloomberg-funded attorneys to continue working in the attorney general’s office.

By then, Ellison was facing so much heat, he was confronted during an interview with Minnesota Public Radio, but amazingly claimed ignorance about the entire Bloomberg program. Later, in an about-face, Ellison admitted he was in fact aware of where the money was coming from:

“I don’t dig into who the donors are, so I’m hearing about this all from a third party. But according to the critics, the foundation that Michael Bloomberg started, which is governed under the laws of the state of New York, which has an independent board that makes decisions, which is a professional charitable foundation, donated to New York University. And then New York University set up the program.” (emphasis added)

Sabin Center Not a Neutral Third Party

Third, the Star Tribune story heavily quoted and relied on a climate law fellow with the Sabin Canter for Climate Change Law at Columbia University as a third-party voice in the story without mentioning that Michael Burger, the Sabin Center’s executive director, also serves as Of Counsel at Sher Edling, which is receiving the DiCaprio money and working for Ellison.

The newspaper eventually added a line disclosing that information:

“Michael Burger, the executive director of the center, also works with Sher Edling, the law firm handling Minnesota’s case and others.”

Plus, a correction at the bottom:

“Correction: The story has been revised to include the Sabin Center director’s affiliation with a law firm handling the Minnesota attorney general’s litigation.”

As the Fox News story on DiCaprio revealed, Andrew Sabin has been a major player in the climate litigation campaign and was recruited by a UCLA law professor to help fund Sher Edling’s work.

Legal Theorizing From National Activist Groups

Finally, the Star Tribune didn’t cover all the other privately-affiliated assistance Ellison received in crafting his climate lawsuit, including support from Alexandra Klass, former University of Minnesota Law professor and current Biden administration appointee, who hosted a panel discussion with Ellison the year before the lawsuit was introduced.

Open records requests later revealed that the Rockefeller Family Fund and the Center for Climate Integrity – two major national activist groups supporting climate litigation – and the Minnesota-based nonprofit Fresh Energy all played major roles alongside Klass in constructing the legal theories for Ellison’s case, including direct communication with the attorney general and his staff.

In fact, Michael Noble, the executive director of Fresh Energy even bragged on a webinar that his group and the Center for Climate Integrity enlisted Ellison to file the lawsuit. Noble said this in 2020, shortly after the case was introduced:

“I want to first just acknowledge that [Center for Climate Integrity] is a national organization that leads on this kind of climate liability, climate litigation. And they brought this concept to Fresh Energy in the fall of 2018, and Fresh Energy helped put this idea in front of Attorney General Keith Ellison shortly after he was sworn in.”

However, Ellison never disclosed this coordination to the public.

Bottom Line

The Star Tribune’s coverage puts Ellison’s climate lawsuit squarely under the political microscope as the fall campaign heats up, even as the story left out some of the most critical context about what has happened in Minnesota in the years since the case was introduced and how Ellison has benefitted from the financial resources of Michael Bloomberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, and other well-funded sources.