CV NEWS FEED // A news source cited seven ethics “experts” in reports that two Supreme Court Justices “violated ethics rules,” but the experts cited have now been revealed to be major Democratic Party donors.
Earlier this year, ProPublica levied a series of allegations against conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. However, it now turns out that the majority of the so-called “experts” they cited to make their case strongly favor left-wing to far-left candidates and causes.
Daily Caller contributor Katelynn Richardson reported Monday that:
Seven of the nine ethics experts cited in ProPublica’s stories on Thomas and Alito have collectively given over $100,000 to Democratic campaigns and left-wing causes, FEC records show. Several also work for organizations calling for Thomas’ resignation that are backed by donors that also fund ProPublica, the DCNF previously reported. The ProPublica stories did not disclose these ethics experts’ donations or the fact it shares donors with groups pushing for Thomas to resign.
As Richardson disclosed, these experts include Nancy Gertner, a former judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Gertner, a Clinton appointee who has donated tens of thousands to Democrats following her retirement, is a board member of the American Constitution Society (ACS), which has been called the left-wing version of the Federalist Society. The ACS president, former Sen. Russ Feingold, D-WI, has advocated for the Biden administration to investigate Thomas.
Another notable “expert” cited by ProPublica was Richard Painter, a former Republican who has unsuccessfully run for Congress multiple times as a Democrat in Minnesota.
Mike Davis, the president of the Article III Foundation, a conservative judicial advocacy organization, told The Daily Caller that this all came as “no surprise” to him. “These so-called experts only want to go after justices who disagree with their worldview,” he said.
CatholicVote reported on one of ProPublica’s attacks on Thomas back in April. The “sole basis for [their] allegation is his friendship with Texas real estate developer Harlan Crow and the fact that Thomas and his wife Ginni have taken vacations with Crow and his wife Kathy,” CatholicVote reported.
ProPublica describes itself as an “independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.” However, their own readers convey a different story.
Again from CatholicVote’s April report:
[ProPublica’s] most recent survey found that 89% of their readers identified as “liberal” while only seven percent identified as “conservative.” The Washington Examiner noted that the organization has been primarily “funded by wealthy left-wing donors.” AllSides gives them a “lean left” political bias.
