I think this is the interesting question about the situation; what is the conservative movement's agenda here? I don't see a clear one. (Let me be clear: I'm no

I think this is the interesting question about the situation; what is the conservative movement's agenda here? I don't see a clear one. (Let me be clear: I'm not writing this to criticize or support the movement or its agenda in this case; I'm just wondering what the agenda is.) It's broader than the Competitive Enterprise Institute. For example, the U.S. Justice Department under Sessions instituted a policy banning (or reducing?) settlements with the Justice Department that paid money to 3rd parties. When the Sessions' Justice Department did it, I assumed they wanted to defund 'liberal' institutions (meaning, those not in the conservative ideological movement). As another example, there is also the effort to defund Planned Parenthood and the successful one to defund ACORN. Note that the Supreme Court case matches a modus operendi of the conservative movement: Change policy and law via the courts rather than through Congress. They develop legal strategies, find good test cases, get Federalist Society judges appointed (especially to the Supreme Court), and incrementally change law and cement policy changes that way. Other groups in other parts of the political spectrum adopt the same approach, of course; it's not just the conservative movement, but they have been particularly strategic. But why this issue? Perhaps someone in the conservative movement decided that these settlements are a valuable revenue stream for "liberal" groups. If someone read through the literature, I'd bet we could find the reasoning and the strategy. Perhaps someone here already has and will share with us?