Thread by @SenWhitehouse

With dark money groups stoking mob rally, SCOTUS takes case where dark money cabal plans to create dark money right. Sometimes evil rampages, sometimes it creeps.
law360.com/compliance/art…

I’m going to go on about this a bit because it’s really important. Fact: Big dark-money entities have started claiming a constitutional right to dark money anonymity and “pled the First” refusing to answer congressional oversight questions. It’s real.

Their problem is this: to get around the corruption consequences of unleashing unlimited money, Citizens United 8-1 required (but never enforced) transparency. Only Thomas said anonymity was protected over transparency.

But since then, dark money forces have put Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett onto the Court, which makes 4 with Thomas; and Alito would likely flip to help Republican dark money crowd. That’s a majority for a new constitutional right to dark money.

Becerra is the first step down this path. It’s a highly technical case about sharing IRS 501c3 donor info with state authorities. 501c3 organizations don’t spend money on politics, but their 501c4 arms do.

Dozens of dark-money amici swarmed this case asking the Court to lay some predicates for that “right” they assert.

Indeed the “AFPF” in AFPF v. Becerra is Americans For Prosperity Foundation, the “charitable” arm of the notorious Koch-funded dark money network.

That network both gives and receives dark money to wield political power and run political covert operations (like climate denial and court capture) in the U.S.

The dark-money amici say in briefing they don’t mean political dark money, but that’s not what they assert to Congress’s questions.

And what is “political” dark money? Anonymously funding fake science to provide propaganda against climate legislation? “Issue” ads lying about carbon emissions?

SCOTUS is now The Court That Dark Money Built, and here comes the dark-money armada in droves to push dark money rights. SCOTUS held Becerra suspiciously long, and took it once Barrett was on, on a day world was focused on Capitol sacking. Expect bad things.

We’ve just experienced the overt dangers of a noisy attack on our democracy by a violent mob; the covert dangers are even greater of stealth attack on our democracy by secretive dark money interests.