Whitehouse Offers Resolution Condemning Dark Money Effort to Pack Supreme Court

Press Release

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, just offered a resolution on the Senate floor expressing a sense of the Senate that unlimited anonymous spending to influence our judiciary undermines the integrity of our judicial system and damages Americans' confidence that all people receive equal justice under law. Whitehouse offered the resolution as an alternative to a Republican measure seeking to limit Congress's longstanding authority over the federal judiciary. The GOP measure comes as Republicans go to extraordinary lengths to pack the courts, including seeking to jam through a Supreme Court nominee within days of a presidential election.

Republicans' rush to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg culminates an unprecedented, norm-smashing effort to pack the Supreme Court. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell refused to move forward with Judge Merrick Garland's nomination in March 2016 citing proximity to an election -- even with that election eight months away. Numerous Republicans joined McConnell in arguing against considering a Supreme Court nominee during a primary election season. McConnell later fabricated a new standard to justify moving forward on a Supreme Court nominee, and, in late September, the Republican leaders signaled his party would take up a replacement for Ginsburg.

Now, with over 50 million votes already cast in the general election, Republicans are pushing to jam through their extreme, partisan nominee to a lifetime appointment on the Court.

To illustrate the cause of Republicans' strange, hypocritical behavior, Whitehouse's resolution lays out the troubling pattern of anonymous dark money spending to boost President Trump's Supreme Court and other judicial nominees. Private organizations, funded by what a Washington Post investigation found to be over $250 million in dark money, play a dominant role in every phase of judicial selection. Dark money groups also engage in an intricate influence campaign to lobby sitting judges to rule in special interests' favor once installed on the bench.

New details of this court-capture scheme come to light regularly. Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington released new findings concerning an $80 million dark money group that has been at the center of Supreme Court nomination battles in recent years.

Republicans' rush to fill the Supreme Court vacancy comes as the Trump White House and Senate Republicans fail to reach agreement on legislation to counter the devastating effects of COVID-19. Reporting shows Senate Republicans are actively pushing back against any deal between the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before the election to provide vital assistance for the American people.

Senate Democrats have released a series of reports on the right-wing special interest campaign to capture the courts.

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