Mike Lee References DCNF Reporting On ProPublica Donors During Senate Judiciary Debate On SCOTUS Ethics Bill
Katelynn Richardson on July 20, 2023
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee referenced the Daily Caller News Foundation’s reporting on ProPublica’s donors during a Senate Judiciary Committee debate on a Democrat-backed bill that would force a code of ethics on the Supreme Court.
ProPublica, which has published multiple stories over the past months alleging conservative justices violated ethics rules, shares multiple donors with organizations calling on Justice Clarence Thomas to resign or be investigated, the Daily Caller News foundation found in June through a review of tax documents. Lee detailed these connections during a markup Wednesday on Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act, a bill that would require the justices to adopt a code of ethics, along with implementing increased disclosure and recusal requirements and establishing a process for reviewing and investigating complaints against justices.
“Look, I’ve got colleagues on this committee, colleagues on the Democratic side, who like to talk a lot about dark money, dark money on the right,” Lee said. “But let me tell you a little bit about how liberal dark money is funding these activist hit pieces underlying this legislation and the perceived need for it on the Left, these activist hit pieces written by ProPublica, while also funding the activist groups calling for court packing and supporting this legislation — openly, actively, aggressively gunning for it.”
The Sandler Foundation, which launched ProPublica in 2007 and is the outlet’s largest donor, giving over $40 million since 2010, has also given over $7.5 million to the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) since 2015 and over $6 million to American Constitution Society (ACS) since 2010, the DCNF found through a review of tax forms.
ProPublica’s first report alleging Thomas violated ethics rules by failing to disclose trips he accepted from his billionaire friend Harlan Crow quoted experts from both CLC and ACS, including Kedric Payne, senior director for ethics at CLC and retired federal judge Nancy Gertner, who sits on the ACS’ board of directors.
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