Thread by @MotherJones

Let’s talk about dark money.

During Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination hearing Tuesday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) gave a Schoolhouse Rock!-style tutorial on the dark money forces at work behind Barrett's selection. Thread 👇

As Whitehouse explains, anonymous money has fueled groups like the Federalist Society and the Judicial Crisis Network that have spent millions cultivating and promoting conservative, ideological candidates like Barrett for the federal bench.

The Judicial Crisis Network, in fact, planned to spend more than $2 million in ad buys to support Donald Trump’s pick—before the president even had a nominee. @Matt_D_Cohen reports: bit.ly/3159MXX

@Matt_D_Cohen Whitehouse drew a direct line from the funding of these groups to the funding of the lawsuits against the ACA. Carrie Severino, for instance, who wrote GOP briefs against the ACA, also helped select Amy Coney Barrett for Trump. “Don’t say the ACA is not an issue here.”

Of course, this isn't new. We detailed in 2013 how rich donors use Donors Trust, a shadowy foundation Whitehouse described as an “identity scrubbing” operation, to hide their contributions to influence judicial nominations: bit.ly/313g1vj

Read more from @smencimer: bit.ly/2SOG84K