SCOTUS and Dark Money

At Open Secrets, Anna Massoglia writes about dark money and the SCOTUS battle:

At the helm of the money race is the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a non-disclosing 501(c)(4) nonprofit that has funneled millions of dollars in support of Kavanaugh’s confirmation as the next Supreme Court justice.

Anonymous donors pumping big money into Supreme Court nominations is nothing new, and this is not JCN’s first rodeo.

JCN first came on the scene in 2005 to promote President George W. Bush’s nominations to the high court as Judicial Confirmation Network before rebranding the “C” its name to stand for “crisis” and attacking President Barack Obama’s nominees.

Tax returns obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics in 2017 revealed that JCN has continued to be primarily funded by the Wellspring Committee, another nondisclosing politically active nonprofit, which is linked to Ann and Neil Corkery’s network of conservative “dark money” groups organized to influence public policy.

Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society’s executive vice president who has played a key role in Trump’s Supreme Court nominations, orchestrated finances related to the network and is also linked to BH Group, a mysterious LLC that donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee.

Becoming a key ‘dark money’ conduit for conservatives to funnel millions of dollars into Supreme Court battles while keeping their identities secret, JCN has established itself the preeminent advocate of conservative contenders for the U.S. Supreme Court as well as in key state supreme court races and attorneys general elections.