SOURCE: Wikipedia, captured 2020-06-20
The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN) (founded in 2005 as the Judicial Confirmation Network) is an American conservative activist political campaign organization based in the United States. As of 2014 it has been run by Carrie Severino, a former law clerk for Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas. The Judicial Crisis Network describes itself as "dedicated to strengthening liberty and justice in America" and supports conservative appointments to American judicial posts.
Carrie Severino is the spouse of the appallingly vile and pernicious transphobe Roger Severino.
The Judicial Crisis Network was founded in 2005 to promote the judicial appointees of then president [prima facie war criminal] George W. Bush. Fundraiser and lawyer Ann Corkery [local copy (pdf)], along with California real estate magnate Robin Arkley II, were key to the beginning of the Judicial Crisis Network.
The current leader is Carrie Severino. Carrie Severino was previously a law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Carrie Severino is a contributor to the National Review.
Carrie Severino received her J.D. [Juris Doctor] degree from Harvard Law School, where she was a student while Elena Kagan was dean. Carrie Severino has been involved with constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act [formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and commonly known as Obamacare].
In 2018, the American public relations firm Creative Response Concepts' clients included the Federalist Society and the Judicial Crisis Network.
The leading funder of the Judicial Crisis Network is the Wellspring Committee, which is directed by Ann Corkery [local copy (pdf)]. Wellspring, which does not disclose who funds it, gave close to $7 million to JCN in 2014; between 2012 and 2015, it reported giving JCN more than $15 million. JCN's tax return for the period July 2015 to June 2016 shows that one $17.9 million donation, whose source was not reported, accounted for 96.6 percent of the Judicial Crisis Network's revenue.
In 2013, JCN ran ads in Alaska that were critical of U.S. senator Mark Begich's votes to approve all of president Barack Obama's federal judicial nominees. The group also ran advertisements that were critical of Mary Landrieu and Mark Pryor's votes for president Obama's court picks. In 2014, the group ran digital advertisements critical of Chris Christie's judicial appointments. JCN has been active in Michigan and North Carolina supreme court elections.
In 2015, the Judicial Crisis Network donated $600,000 to "Nebraskans for the Death Penalty," a group promoting reinstatement of capital punishment in Nebraska.
In 2016, the JCN ran a negative advertisement about Jane L. Kelly, a federal appeals judge from Iowa who was on a White House list of possible nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Also in 2016, the JCN bought advertisements across the country to oppose president Obama's supreme court nominee, chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Merrick Garland. In November 2016, after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, JCN ran television advertisements praising senate judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley for holding the line against Garland. The group also spent over $500,000 on advertisements thanking Trump for his campaign promises regarding the types of justices he would select for the nation's high court. JCN's advertisements asked viewers to thank Trump for pledging to nominate conservative jurists in the mold of Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court.
On January 31, 2017, the Judicial Crisis Network committed to spending $10 million on advocacy ads in favor of president Donald Trump's first Supreme Court of the United States nominee, Neil Gorsuch.
The Judicial Crisis Network spent $4.5 million in ad buys supportive of the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Judicial Education Project is closely aligned with the Judicial Crisis Network.
[RightWingWatch.org, 2022-08-12]
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[Documented.net, 2020-10-16] New filing shows massive dark money support from Judicial Crisis Network to Republican Attorneys General Association.
[2020-10-13] "Must-watch:" Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Schools Amy Coney Barrett on Dark Money. Superb presentation illustrating Republican Party and dark money influencers on vested special interests (abolition of: affordable health care, access to abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, judicial freedom; concentration of obfuscated power; ...).
[2018-07-06]: The anti-abortion conservative quietly guiding Trump's supreme court pick, Leonard Leo -- who is advising Trump on his nominee -- is a mild-mannered Republican who has become one of the Washington's most influential people.
As the owlish Executive Vice-President of the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo has quietly become one of the Washington's most influential people. Carrie Severino, a former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, said Leo knows the conservative legal movement "perhaps better than anyone in the country". Leonard Leo is on leave from the Federalist Society to advise Trump.
Kennedy's retirement has imperiled Roe v Wade, the court's landmark 1973 ruling that legalised abortion nationwide, which Leo and his conservative allies have long been committed to overturning. A ruling by the new court could allow states to outlaw abortion within their borders. Amid liberal outcry and polls indicating that Americans support Roe v Wade by more than two to one, Leo has appeared keen to contain his excitement. "I don't think people should be worried about Roe v Wade or any other particular case," he told CBS last week.
But such protestations do not persuade his critics. "It's nonsense," said Michael Avery, professor emeritus at Boston's Suffolk Law School and the author of a book on the Federalist Society's rise. "These people have been pursuing a strategy for decades of chipping away at women's rights."
Leonard Leo, a 53-year-old father of six, appears in the media as the mild-mannered public face of a strident campaign to reshape the American judiciary. It is a mission that has spanned several administrations, driven by Leo and fellow devout Catholics, and bankrolled with tens of millions of dollars from unidentified conservative donors. More than a decade ago, it helped secure George W Bush's confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.
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Working more behind the scenes is Ann Corkery, a Washington lawyer and fundraiser, who in the 1990s said she was a member of Opus Dei, the hardline Catholic order. Ann Corkery defended the group's practice of self-flagellation. "People don't understand sacrifice, the whole idea of why anyone would inflict pain, because the modern notion is to avoid suffering," she said. Corkery did not respond to emailed questions.
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Ann Corkery and her husband, Neil Corkery, have taken turns as president of the Wellspring Committee, a Virginia-based non-profit that channels funds to the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), which provides the campaign's sharp edge. JCN spent $17 million on television advertising and other advocacy in support of Gorsuch and, earlier, against Barack Obama's proposed centrist replacement of Scalia, Merrick Garland.
Gary Marx, JCN's secretary and treasurer, wrote in 2012: "Should abortion be illegal? Absolutely." Ann Corkery helped form JCN and Neil formerly served as its treasurer. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, they got started with funding from Robin Arkley, a conservative property developer from Eureka, California, who was friendly with Scalia.
Robin Arkley these days makes appearances as a pundit on a local radio talkshow, where he has complained of African Americans having children out of wedlock and called for homeless people to be expelled from Eureka [California]. He referred to the 2005 hurricane in Louisiana as "Saint Katrina" because it provided an "unbelievable stimulus" to the construction industry. He also said that, given the strength of support for Obama among minorities, the notion that white people should vote for white candidates is "something we really need to explore". Arkley did not respond to emailed questions.
Wellspring, the Corkery-led non-profit that funds JCN, is not required to name its donors. It disclosed late last year that it received $28.5 million from a single contributor. The Center for Responsive Politics has said Leonard Leo plays a leading role in raising money for Wellspring. The Center also found Wellspring sent $750,000 to an obscure company that gave $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. Leo named that company as his employer on a public filing.
Dan Goldberg, the legal director of the liberal-leaning Alliance for Justice, said this "dark money" was allowing a wealthy elite to "turn back the clock" in American society without accountability. "They are spending an enormous amount of money to erode the progress we've made in ensuring rights for women, healthcare for millions of Americans and rights for workers, LGBTQ people and people of colour," said Goldberg.
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The likely confirmation of Trump's second nominee will mark the pinnacle of Leo's endeavours for the Federalist Society, which he [Leonard Leo] joined soon after graduating from Cornell law school in 1989. But Michael Avery, the professor and author, does not expect Leo or his allies to admit it. "They will continue complaining that they are outsiders even after achieving the most complete takeover of the courts that we have ever seen," said Avery. "They will never be satisfied."
[reference] In 2018, Creative Response Concepts' (CRC) clients included the Federalist Society, and the Judicial Crisis Network. CRC is closely associated with the conservative activist Leonard A. Leo.
[2020-09-21] Carrie Severino Argues Precedent Supports Trump Filling SCOTUS Seat Before Election
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