{"id":208541,"date":"2021-03-10T14:44:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T19:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=208541"},"modified":"2021-03-10T14:44:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T19:44:54","slug":"sheldon-whitehouse-invited-three-dark-money-critics-to-testify-to-congress-they-all-take-dark-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sheldon-whitehouse-invited-three-dark-money-critics-to-testify-to-congress-they-all-take-dark-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheldon Whitehouse Invited Three Dark Money Critics To Testify to Congress. They All Take Dark Money."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsheldon-whitehouse-invited-three-dark-money-critics-to-testify-to-congress-they-all-take-dark-money%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=208541&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All three witnesses invited by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) to testify at a hearing on the destructive impact dark money has had on the Supreme Court have significant ties to liberal dark money groups.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whitehouse is scheduled to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/meetings\/whats-wrong-with-the-supreme-court-the-big-money-assault-on-our-judiciary\">preside over<\/a>&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday afternoon on &#8220;What&#8217;s Wrong with the Supreme Court: The Big Money Assault on Our Judiciary.&#8221; Among the witnesses he called is Ben Jealous, who is currently the&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">president<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of People for the American Way, a liberal group that does not disclose its donors.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jealous will be joined by Michael Klarman of<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;Take Back the Court, a judicial advocacy group that does not identify its donors, and Lisa Graves of the&nbsp;Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal watchdog group that discloses some donors, but takes a significant portion of its funding from sources that conceal contributions.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in Democrats<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0\">\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/sheldon-whitehouse-invited-liberal-dark-money-critics-to-a-hearing-they-all-take-dark-money\/\"><strong>Sheldon Whitehouse Invited Three Dark Money Critics To Testify to Congress. They All Take Dark Money.<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/female-entrepreneurs-rip-dems-over-labor-bill\/\"><strong>Female Entrepreneurs Rip Dems Over Labor Bill<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/oregon-dem-reverses-course-on-big-labor-bill-after-union-pressure-campaign\/\"><strong>Oregon Dem Reverses Course on Big Labor Bill After Union Pressure Campaign<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hearing is Whitehouse\u2019s latest attempt to push dark money groups to disclose their donors. Although he frequently attacks the role of dark money in politics, Whitehouse himself <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/sen-whitehouse-a-critic-of-dark-money-has-ties-to-dark-money\/\">has relied<\/a> on groups that conceal their donors throughout his tenure in the Senate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Take Back the Court does not identify who bankrolls the group in its tax forms. The Center for Media and Democracy has identified some of its donors, but a significant portion of its cash has come from sources that conceal contributions, such as the Schwab Charitable Fund.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/sheldon-whitehouse-vs-the-supreme-court-11615332964\">editorial board<\/a><\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">notes<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that the hearing will likely be used to advance Whitehouse&#8217;s Amicus Act, which<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">would require groups that file briefs in Supreme Court cases to disclose their donors.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whitehouse has consistently attacked conservative dark money groups, particularly those who work on Supreme Court fights. He and other Senate Democrats have demanded such groups release lists of their funders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But despite these attacks, Whitehouse and Democrats rely on a host of dark money groups for support in judicial fights. Demand Justice, a left-wing group that fights Republican court nominations, is sponsored by the Sixteen Thirty Fund. The fund is a subsidiary of Arabella Advisors, which manages a network of funds that <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/dem-dark-money-network-rakes-in-715-million-to-bankroll-liberal-causes\/\">raised<\/a> $715 million in anonymous cash for left-wing causes in 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Demand Justice recently joined a larger coalition called&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/courts\/left-wing-dark-money-groups-unite-to-undo-trumps-judicial-legacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unrig the Courts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which includes seven other dark money groups, including Take Back the Court. The coalition&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/courts\/left-wing-dark-money-groups-unite-to-undo-trumps-judicial-legacy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">seeks<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to add seats to the Supreme Court, impose term limits on justices, expand the lower courts, and create &#8220;improved ethics and transparency requirements.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;It&#8217;s impossible to take Senator Sheldon Whitehouse seriously on the issue of dark money when liberal groups raise, spend, and benefit from more dark money than other organizations,&#8221; Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, told the<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington Free Beacon<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. &#8220;As he rails against conservatives, liberal organizations such as the ACLU and NAACP are fighting in court to protect donor privacy. Mr. Whitehouse may have a gavel and chair, a subcommittee, but he&#8217;s living in a world all his own.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The battle over dark money and the Supreme Court has erupted due to the push from Whitehouse and Democrats. Sutherland&#8217;s group launched a six-figure ad buy Wednesday&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CE0rPZthFuk&amp;t=9s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hitting Whitehouse<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">over his dark money ties.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whitehouse&#8217;s office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All three witnesses invited by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) to testify at a hearing on the destructive impact dark money has had on the Supreme Court have significant ties &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2310447,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image.png","fifu_image_alt":"Sheldon Whitehouse Invited Three Dark Money Critics To Testify to Congress. They All Take Dark Money.","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fb_image.png","fifu_image_alt":"Sheldon Whitehouse Invited Three Dark Money Critics To Testify to Congress. They All Take Dark Money.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2310447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}