ABC This Week hosts the president of the Koch/Mercer funded "Judicial Crisis Network" to pimp Trump's list for right-wing judges. Normalizing dark money on the Sunday shows with no disclosure. SHAME.
September 21, 2020

SHAME on ABC This Week, for hosting the president of the so-called "Judical Crisis Network" without disclosing that it's a right-wing front for the Kochs and Mercers. And of course her job was to normalize both the right wing judges on Trump's short list AND the corruption that pretends his appointment of a justice this late in his first term is legitimate.

CARRIE SEVERINO, PRESIDENT, JUDICIAL CRISIS NETWORK: Yes, well, we know there's ample time to get this done before the election.

You look at Justice O'Connor, 33 days was confirmed unanimously, Justice Ginsburg herself in 42 days, nearly unanimously, Justice Stevens in 19 days. So there's clearly time to get this done.

Some of the names we're hearing a lot, George, are people like Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa, two judges that were elevated by Trump to the appellate court, really outstanding women, mothers, scholars, judges. They have incredible stories of trailblazers.

And I think this is an exciting time for women. These are the kind of women, I think, who could follow and Justice Ginsburg's own trailblazing footsteps and really make an incredible mark on the court.

Severino splits her time between the Judicial Crisis Network and the opposite-day named "Honest Elections Project," profiled by OpenSecrets.org as follows:

...Backed by a dark money group funded by right-wing stalwarts like the Koch brothers and Betsy DeVos’ family, the Honest Elections Project is part of the network that pushed Supreme Court picks Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsurch, and is quickly becoming a juggernaut in the escalating fight over voting rights.

The project announced it was spending $250,000 on advertisements in April, warning against voting by mail and accusing Democrats of cheating. It facilitated letters to election officials in Colorado, Florida, and Michigan, using misleading data to accuse jurisdictions of having bloated voter rolls and threatening legal action.

Calling voter suppression a “myth,” it has also been extremely active in the courts, filing briefs in favor of voting restrictions in Nevada, Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, among other places, at times represented by lawyers from the same firm that represents Trump. By having a hand in both voting litigation and the judges on the federal bench, this network could create a system where conservative donors have an avenue to both oppose voting rights and appoint judges to back that effort.

ABC didn't bother to mention Severino's dark money voter suppression job, either.

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