Dark money groups pump nearly $90 million into Supreme Court case

[cbabe]

https://www.rawstory.com/moore-v-harper-2658946777/

Dark money groups pump nearly $90 million into Supreme Court case

Areeba Shah, Salon
December 10, 2022


A report released this week by the nonpartisan watchdog group Accountable.US revealed a network of dark money groups that have donated nearly $90 million to organizations actively supporting the plaintiffs in Moore v. Harper — a bombshell case now before the Supreme Court that could alter the way federal elections are conducted across the country.

The landmark case hinges on the "independent state legislature" theory brought by North Carolina legislators, who want to eliminate the system of checks and balances governing federal elections and appropriate full power themselves. This could mean, for example, that state legislatures are free to appoint a slate of presidential electors as they see fit, regardless of which candidate a state's voters favored.

The theory asserts that under the U.S. Constitution, state legislatures have full authority to set the rules when it comes to making state laws that apply to federal elections, and that state constitutions and state courts have no power or authority over them. If the Supreme Court affirms the theory in deciding the Moore case, state legislatures will effectively be freed to gerrymander electoral maps and pass restrictive voting laws with little to no supervision by state courts or other entities.

…

"It's obviously a fringe, extremist legal theory that's being funded by these wealthy conservative donors, and these are people who know their extreme agenda isn't popular," said Kayla Hancock, director of power and influence at Accountable.US. "So they're spending millions of dollars to stack the Supreme Court and chip away at our democratic rights and freedoms by influencing these institutions."

…

But over the last two years, that changed with the founding of a nonprofit called the Honest Elections Project, which has promoted the theory extensively. The group is closely linked to Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo, seen as immensely influential in building the current Supreme Court's conservative supermajority.

…

Along with the Honest Elections Project, four other right-wing groups have filed amicus briefs in Moore v. Harper Amicus Briefs supporting the independent state legislature theory, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (known as the conservative "bill mill&quot , the Public Interest Legal Foundation, America's Future Inc. and the Claremont Institute, where election conspiracy theorist John Eastman wrote the now-infamous memos urging Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electoral votes from certain states.

DonorsTrust, which has been described as the "dark money ATM" of the conservative movement, has funded a majority of the donations, giving almost $70.5 million to these groups, according to the Accountable.US report.

The group funnels anonymous donations to hundreds of organizations, including several right-wing legal and policy groups favored by the Koch network as well as other mega-donors, according to Sludge.

…more…

[flying_wahini]

1. Wouldn't it be great if the SCOTUS would rule fairly and throw this case out? It would be

so sweet to know they lost $90 million for nothing!

[Scrivener7]

2. Shows what our laws are made of these days.

[flying_wahini]

3. Also would love to know if these 'financiers' were also involved in Paying debts of Kavenaugh

Too bad somebody can’t track it all…..

[katmondoo]

4. These people are determined to make this country into a dictatorship.

I am so afraid they will succeed. The signs are everywhere.

[Chainfire]

6. What makes you think that they have not already succeeded?

Dictatorship is probably the wrong name, but what ever it is, has nothing to do with Democracy.

The rich and powerful have the God-given right and duty to govern us working class pawns. We should thank them for it by continuing to increase their wealth and their power over us. It will continue to get worse until we become sufficiently pissed.

[global1]

5. It Really Says Something When The Supreme Court Could Be Corrupted By.....

dark money.

We're in trouble.