[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 183 (Saturday, October 24, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S6448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 759--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT DARK 
 MONEY UNDERMINES THE INTEGRITY OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND DAMAGES THE 
       PERCEPTION THAT ALL PEOPLE RECEIVE EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 759

       Whereas dark money organizations, funded by anonymous 
     donors, have played an outsized role in the selection of 
     judges and justices of the Supreme Court of the United States 
     (referred to in this preamble as the ``Supreme Court'') under 
     President Trump and spent millions of anonymous dollars on 
     advertising campaigns supporting those selections;
       Whereas the people of the United States have no idea who is 
     funding these campaigns and what business the funders might 
     have before the courts;
       Whereas, under President Trump, the Federalist Society for 
     Law and Public Policy Studies (referred to in this preamble 
     as the ``Federalist Society'') has played a central role in 
     the selection of President Trump's judicial nominees, 
     including his 3 nominees to the Supreme Court, for example--
       (1) in 2016, then-candidate Trump said that all of his 
     judicial selections would ``be hand-picked by the Federalist 
     Society'';
       (2) in 2017, then-White House Counsel Don McGahn boasted 
     that the judicial selection process had been ``in-sourced'' 
     to the Federalist Society;
       (3) Leonard Leo, the Co-Chairman of the Federalist Society, 
     twice took a leave of absence from the Federalist Society to 
     work in the White House and advise President Trump on his 
     Supreme Court nominations;
       (4) approximately 86 percent of President Trump's Supreme 
     Court and appellate court nominees have been members of the 
     Federalist Society; and
       (5) Judge Amy Coney Barret has spoken at 26 Federalist 
     Society events since 2014 and, at the time of his 
     confirmation in 2018, Justice Brett Kavanaugh had spoken at 
     over 50 Federalist Society events;
       Whereas the Washington Post reported that Leonard Leo has 
     helped raise $250,000,000 from mostly anonymous donors to 
     promote conservative legal causes and judges;
       Whereas groups engaged in these activities do not disclose 
     their funders, meaning the people of the United States have 
     no idea who is behind this sophisticated operation to 
     influence the selection of judges and justices;
       Whereas dark money groups like the Judicial Crisis Network 
     (referred to in the preamble as ``JCN'') have helped shape 
     the composition of the Supreme Court by spending tens of 
     millions of anonymous dollars on advertising campaigns 
     opposing or supporting Supreme Court nominees, specifically--
       (1) JCN spent $7,000,000 to block President Obama's 
     nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to be an Associate 
     Justice of the Supreme Court in 2016;
       (2) JCN pledged to spend $10,000,000 to support President 
     Trump's nomination of then-Judge Neil Gorsuch to be an 
     Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 2017;
       (3) JCN also spent $10,000,000 to support President Trump's 
     nomination of then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate 
     Justice of the Supreme Court in 2018; and
       (4) JCN has pledged to spend $10,000,000 to support 
     President Trump's nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to be 
     an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court;
       Whereas JCN is a dark money organization and does not 
     disclose its funders to the people of the United States;
       Whereas JCN has received multiple massive contributions 
     from the anonymous donors, specifically--
       (1) a $15,881,000 anonymous contribution in tax year 2018;
       (2) a $17,100,000 anonymous contribution in tax year 2017;
       (3) a $21,464,995 anonymous contribution in tax year 2016; 
     and
       (4) a $17,920,000 anonymous contribution in tax year 2015; 
     and
       Whereas the American people have no idea who made these 
     massive contributions and what business the contributors 
     might have before the courts: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) fair and impartial courts are a bedrock of American 
     democracy and crucial to maintaining the faith of the people 
     of the United States in the justice system;
       (2) this massive dark money operation to influence the 
     selection and confirmation of judges and justices creates 
     significant conflict of interest concerns for the judiciary 
     and undermines the integrity of the courts and the justice 
     system; and
       (3) the people of the United States deserve to know who is 
     behind this massive dark money campaign to capture the 
     courts.

                          ____________________