III 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 24 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

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. 

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; 


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•SRES 759 IS 

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 


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•SRES 759 IS 

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 


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•SRES 759 IS 

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 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 

2 (1) fair and impartial courts are a bedrock of 

3 American democracy and crucial to maintaining the 

4 faith of the people of the United States in the justice 

5 system; 

6 (2) this massive dark money operation to influ7 ence the selection and confirmation of judges and 

8 justices creates significant conflict of interest con9 cerns for the judiciary and undermines the integrity 

10 of the courts and the justice system; and 

11 (3) the people of the United States deserve to 

12 know who is behind this massive dark money cam13 paign to capture the courts. 

Æ 


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