• According to Federal Election Commission records, the experts cited in the ProPublica article alleging Justice Clarence Thomas and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito violated ethics rules were Hillary Clinton, Barack He has donated more than $100,000 to left-wing activism, including Obama and Joe Biden’s presidential campaigns.
• Other donations went to left-wing fundraising platform ActBlue, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and Democratic candidates for local council elections.
• “I have spent the last 20 years pushing for ethics legislation that applies to all judges, regardless of who appointed them. 2011 was similar,” said law professor Amanda Frost. The statement at the University of Virginia Law School, which ProPublica cited in its article about Judge Samuel Alito, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The majority of ethics experts cited by ProPublica in a recent article on alleged ethics violations by Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have a history of donating to Democratic campaigns and left-wing movements. The Daily Caller News Foundation investigated the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Record found.

Seven of the nine ethics experts cited in ProPublica’s article on Thomas and Alito have collectively donated more than $100,000 to Democratic campaigns and left-wing causes, according to FEC records. The DCNF previously reported that some are working with a group that is backed by donors who also fund ProPublica, calling for Thomas’ resignation. The ProPublica article did not disclose the contributions of these ethics experts or the fact that they share donors with groups seeking to remove Mr. Thomas.

ProPublica has run several articles over the past few months citing experts who allege that Thomas violated the High Court’s ethics rules by failing to disclose the high cost. trip He and his billionaire friend Harlan Crow received money for Crow’s purchase of Thomas’ mother’s house and for his grandnephew’s private school tuition. Tuition. Mr. Alito reported on June 20, preempted In its own op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, the paper took the opinion of an expert who alleges that the Supreme Court Justice violated the ethics code by not disclosing a 2008 Alaska fishing trip with billionaire Paul Singer. Quoted.

“In a partisan and politically motivated attack on the Constitutionalist Supreme Court, it is surprising that ProPublica chose to selectively interview Democratic donors posing as independent experts on judicial ethics. No,” said Mike Davis, a former Senate chief adviser to the nominee. Attorney General Chuck Grassley, Founder and President of the Article III Project, told DCNF.

“These so-called experts only want to go after judges who disagree with their worldview,” Davis said. (Related: Major ProPublica Donor Funds Activist Group Targeting Judge Clarence Thomas)

Former federal judge Nancy Gartner, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, donated Since retiring in 2011, she has donated more than $92,000 to Democratic and left-wing organizations, according to FEC records. Most recently, in March 2023, Gartner donated $750 to match the campaigns of California Governor Gavin Newsom and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Over the years, Gartner has also donated thousands of dollars to ActBlue, a fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and left-wing groups. Gartner donated more than $3,500 to ActBlue in 2022 alone, according to FEC records.

Gartner also board Membership of the American Constitutional Society (ACS), which has the same major donors as ProPublica, was previously discovered by the DCNF through examination of tax documents. ACS President Russ Feingold backed up In April, he called for a Justice Department investigation into Clarence Thomas, arguing that Congress “has a duty to check the Supreme Court.”

In an article focusing on the Thomas and Crow trip, Mr. Gartner said Propublica Thomas’ conduct was “incomprehensible” and said he would not mention his title when making dinner reservations as a judge. Stated.

ProPublica reported that four “current or retired federal judges” agreed that Mr. Thomas broke the code as a judge, but did not name any other than Mr. Gertner.

“They are not interested in applying ethical standards impartially or objectively,” Davis continued. “They are a left-wing ideology and should not be taken seriously.”

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflick said that while the DCNF donation does not “disqualify” the cited expert, it “does not find it enlightening, valuable, or at least understandable as a reader.” There are situations where it could be a reasonable context for

“It lets you know where their empathy lies,” Falkenflick said. “Their sympathy may not lie in a court appointed six to three by the people on the other side.”

Virginia Canter, Chief Ethics Advisor, Civil Society for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (crew), cited in three recent articles in ProPublica. contributed FEC records show donations totaling $1,000 to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2004. exceeded.

Canter told ProPublica that Thomas “seems to be completely ignoring higher ethical obligations” by accepting travel from Crow. In response to Alito’s allegation that the private jet trip paid for by Singer was not subject to disclosure under the personal entertainment reporting exemption, he said the judge was “trying to steer away from plain language in statutes and regulations.” ‘ said.

Some of ProPublica’s biggest donors also donated to CREW, which called on Judge Clarence Thomas to resign in May, tax documents have revealed to the DCNF.

A spokesperson for ProPublica told the DCNF that the experts cited in the article “are experts with deep independence expertise and reputations who regularly criticize Democrats and Republicans alike. ‘ said.

“Several of the individuals cited in the article have served in Republican administrations,” the spokesperson said. “To our knowledge, no one with expertise in government ethics has challenged the premise of this story. If they don’t, they’re violating the code of conduct they follow in court,” said the majority of federal judges. ”

Amanda Frost law Professor At the University of Virginia Law School, which ProPublica quoted in its article on Judge Samuel Alito, have Given the Nearly $12,000 was donated to left-wing causes from 2008 to 2021, including the Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren presidential campaigns, ActBlue, and several congressional campaigns, according to FEC records. .

Frost, who testified At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform in May, Alito’s visit showed the mindset that judges “just can be trusted” to do the right thing, Pro said. told Publica.[remain] Perfect secrecy doesn’t work. ”

“I have spent the last 20 years pushing for ethics legislation that applies to all judges, regardless of who appointed them. For years,” Frost told the DCNF. She served as secretary for Republican-appointed judges, and criticized the ethical conduct of Democratic-appointed judges in both scholarship and testimony before Congress.

“Furthermore, I have publicly defended ethical conduct [of] Chief Justice John Roberts recently new york times It’s about hiring my wife,” Frost said.

Abby Smith, Georgetown University Law School Professor Alito told ProPublica that he should have withdrawn from the incident because of his travels with the singer. Given the More than $2,000 has been paid to left-wing causes and Democratic campaigns since 2004, according to FEC records. These include ActBlue and the presidential campaigns of both Hillary Clinton and Obama.

Smith recently donated $40 to ActBlue in 2022 and a total of $700 to Clinton in 2015-2016.

University of Washington Law Professor Kathleen Clarke, who appeared in three ProPublica articles, donated Nearly $400 has been paid to Democratic activism since 2006, according to FEC records. She donated $100 to President Obama’s campaign in 2008.

The last donation listed in the FEC filing was two donations to ActBlue in 2016 totaling $54.

Kedric Payne, senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), another donor-backed organization that also funds ProPublica, said: donated $500 for Jamie Harrison’s Senate Campaign Against Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, according to FEC records. He also contributed $250 to Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 while working at law firms Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates. Around LinkedIn.

Payne said in the first article in ProPublica that Thomas had violated the Disclosure Act and also testified as a Democratic witness at a Supreme Court hearing on ethics reform in May. During the hearing, Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy said: grilled pain Retweet He said some of the judges were “robed politicians in a regime where access and influence are touted.”

Former President George W. Bush’s Chief Ethics Counsel Richard Painter said: donated $1,000 for the 2020 election campaign of President Biden, and Ran In 2018, he won the Minnesota Senate seat as a Democrat, according to FEC records. He was consulted by Hunter Biden’s lawyers about setting up a defense fund. according to to the New York Times.painter Said ProPublica Crow said private school tuition for Thomas’ grandnephew was “far beyond common sense” and suggested that any White House official who received the same gift would be fired. . However, neither Painter nor ProPublica cited any White House regulations or policies to support this claim.

Painter told the DCNF that he gave about $25,000 to the Republican Party from 1998 to 2004 and plans to endorse Senator Tim Scott in the 2024 presidential election. He also said he “strongly condemned the Penn-Biden arrangement and the mishandling of classified information.” interview With Tucker Carlson in January 2023.

As for the Supreme Court, Painter told the DCNF he wasn’t focusing on any particular judge and said he also referenced Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s multi-million dollar book. handle With Penguin Random House.

“All the leftists here are saying, well, it’s nothing compared to this.” [Justice Thomas], and it doesn’t matter,” he said. “The point is, should we do these book deals? Any of those. I don’t care if it’s Judge Barrett or Sotomayor. But if a million dollar book deal is good for the Supreme Court. is not very confident.”

Gartner, Kanter, Clarke and Payne did not respond to requests for comment. Smith declined to comment.

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