2019 Expose of Leonard Leo's dark money networkhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/leonard-leo-federalists-society-courts/?utm_term=.1d2008ed2d75

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/leonard-leo-federalists-society-courts/?utm_term=.1d2008ed2d75

"Even as Leo counseled Trump on judicial picks, he and his allies were raising money for nonprofits that under IRS rules do not have to disclose their donors. Between 2014 and 2017 alone, they collected more than $250 million in such donations, sometimes known as "dark money," according to a Post analysis of the most recent tax filings available. The money was used in part to support conservative policies and judges, through advertising and through funding for groups whose executives appeared as television pundits.

"The groups in Leo's network often work in concert and are linked to Leo and one another by finances, shared board members, phone numbers, addresses, back-office support and other operational details, according to tax filings, incorporation records, other documents and interviews."

The article chronicles the growth of conservative influence in judicial nominations during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations.

Charlie Cooper

Controversy regarding ERIC

https://www.govtech.com/elections/breaking-up-with-eric-why-are-these-3-states-leaving

23 states are members of ERIC, a non-profit organization that shares voter registration among states. The Board mostly consists of state election chiefs, but now Republicans are leaving ERIC because they object to the fact that 2 seats reserved for expert members. The article presents evidence to debunk Republican worries that the expert members are biased against Republicans.

On the other hand, there have been some charges that ERIC can lead to people who have NOT moved being spuriously removed from voter rolls based on misidentification of people with similar names.

"Last year the organization helped member states identify more than 4.4 million potentially eligible but unregistered voters and 11 million voters who'd likely moved to another state. It also found what appeared to be 1 million duplicate names and nearly 570,600 deceased people still listed in voter registration records, ERIC reports."

Charlie Cooper

Right-wing politicians and think tanks combine to weaken child labor laws

https://popular.info/p/deregulating-child-labor?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Child labor law violations have quadrupled recently. In Arkansas and other states, lawmakers have weakened child labor laws with funding and assistance from right-wing groups, including Koch-backed organizations such as Americans for Prosperity. Some of these groups are also involved in the capture of the Supreme Court as described by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse in his book, "The Scheme."

Charlie Cooper

Georgia legislators consider accountability for local prosecutors amid controversy

https://www.gpb.org/news/2023/03/10/what-do-the-proposed-georgia-prosecutor-oversight-bills-do-explainer

Some Democrats and liberals have charged that the bill now being considered by the Republican majority in the legislature is aimed at removing prosecutor Fani Willis who is investigating Trump for possible indictment regarding his efforts to change results of the 2020 presidential election. However, the article says it more nuanced and includes concern about the white prosecutor who failed to prosecute for the murder of Ahmad Aubrey.

Charlie Cooper

NC Supreme Court flips to Republican and takes unusual decision to rehear cases

https://southerncoalition.org/plaintiffs-in-redistricting-voter-id-cases-respond-to-impractical-arguments-for-nc-supreme-court-to-abandon-prior-decisions/

This article comes from a party that supports the prior decision of the NC Supreme Court in Moore v. Harper (February 2022), which declared that the legislature's Congressional districting map  violated a provision in the state constitution that guarantees free elections. Since then, the court composition has changed to majority Republican, and the new majority has taken the very unusual step of rehearing the case.

Charlie Cooper

Supreme Court justices cannot agree on a code of ethics

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/09/supreme-court-ethics-code/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR23wthialtUwZHC_aA93AomZIc_oM3OA8ko66u4CBx7Lbf3Dhrql8ts7Sk

Citizens and some members of Congress are growing impatient, amid apparent ethical lapses.

Charlie Cooper

AZ Candidate Finchem sanctioned for groundless lawsuite

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/election-denier-mark-finchem-sanctioned-arizona-judge-rcna73671

An Arizona judge has sanctioned Mark Finchem, an election denier who ran as a Republican for AZ Secretary of State. He lost by 120,000 votes, but sued to overturn the election despite lack of evidence.

Charlie Cooper