34. Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim), “Re: Kamala and her Qs re whether Kavanaugh discussed Mueller probe with anyone at Kasowitz – Dem aide tells me they have reason to believe that a conversation happened and are continuing to pursue it,” Twitter, September 5, 2018, 6:42 p.m., https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/1037516325437022208.
35. Elana Schor, “Kavanaugh stumbles when grilled on whether he discussed Mueller probe,” Politico, September 5, 2018, https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/05/kavanaugh-mueller-probe-hearings-809115.
36. John T. Bennett, “Harris Lands First Blow on Kavanaugh—But It Only Grazes Him” Roll Call, September 6, 2018, https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/harris-lands-first-blow-on-kavanaugh-but-it-only-grazes-him.
37. Jennifer Rubin, “The second-most-intense guessing game in D.C.,” Washington Post, September 6, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/09/06/the-second-most-intense-guessing-game-in-d-c/.
38. Senator Whitehouse is known for his liberal use of visual aids during hearings. During his opening statement his aide held up ten different signs with photos of the justices, charts, and tables. One intended to show why, contrary to all Supreme Court precedents, Kavanaugh should recuse himself from cases dealing with the president who appointed him, arguing that Trump had “a significant and dispropotiate [sic] influnce [sic] in placing the judge on the case.” See Mike Brest, “Dem Uses Poster With Spelling Mistakes to Suggest Kavanaugh Is Obligated to Recuse Himself If Hearing a Case About Trump,” Daily Caller, September 6, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/06/dem-spelling-kavanaugh-trump/.
39. Cortney O’Brien, “Sen. Whitehouse Condemns Federalist Society . . . There Are Just a Few Problems,” Townhall, September 5, 2018, https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2018/09/05/sen-whitehouse-condemns-federalist-societytheres-just-one-problem-n2516136.
40. Since 2013 alone the League of Conservation Voters has given Senator Whitehouse nearly two hundred thousand dollars. See “Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse–Rhode Island,” https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/contributors?cid=N00027533&cycle=2018&type=C; Michael Beckel, “League of Conservation Voters Becoming ‘Dark Money’ Heavyweight,” The Center for Public Integrity, May 12, 2014, https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/league-of-conservation-voters-becoming-dark-money-heavyweight/.
41. Evan Mandery, “Why There’s No Liberal Federalist Society,” Politico, January 23, 2019, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/23/why-theres-no-liberal-federalist-society-224033.
42. And that doesn’t even include the powerful forces of legal academia and the professional establishment of the American Bar Association and state bar associations—hardly less liberal than the explicitly ideological groups. While there is a controversy over whether the ABA can be properly be called neutral in its judicial evaluations (discussed elsewhere in this book), the policy positions it takes as an organization are undeniably liberal. Eighty-two percent of law school professors in the 2010s were Democrats, and the figure was even higher at elite schools. Kate Hardiman, “Law schools dominated by Democrat professors, research finds,” The College Fix, August 31, 2015, https://www.thecollegefix.com/law-schools-dominated-by-democrat-professors-research-finds/; James Lindgren, “Measuring Diversity: Law Faculties in 1997 and 2013,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 39, (January 2016): 89. Ninety-eight percent of donations from Harvard Law School professors went to Democrats. Daniel Halper, “98% of Harvard Law Faculty Political Donations Go to Democrats,” Weekly Standard, May 1, 2015, https://www.weeklystandard.com/daniel-halper/98-of-harvard-law-faculty-political-donations-go-to-democrats.
43. Kevin Drum, “No Liberal Equivalent of the Federalist Society? Please.,” Mother Jones, January 24, 2019, https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/01/no-liberal-equivalent-of-the-federalist-society-please/.
44. Anna Massoglia and Geoff West, “Kennedy’s resignation sparks millions in conservative, liberal ad campaigns,” Center for Responsive Politics, June 28, 2018, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/06/kennedys-resignation-sparks-seven-figure-ad-campaigns-from-conservative-liberal-groups/.
45. “Sixteen Thirty Fund,” Influence Watch, https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/sixteen-thirty-fund/; “Sixteen Thirty Fund Form 990,” Influence Watch, https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2019/03/Sixteen-Thirty-Fund-Form-990-2017.pdf.
46. Peter Olsen-Phillips, “Democrats Increasingly Rely on Dark Money,” U.S. News & World Report, April 30, 2019, https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-04-30/democrats-increasingly-rely-on-dark-money.
47. Eric Kessler is the founder and principal at Arabella Advisors and also serves on the board of the New Venture Fund and the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
48. One singularly ironic group, Every Voice, purports to be attempting to remove the influence of money in politics and supporting “small donor election programs,” while feeding at the trough of big donors including not only Sixteen Thirty Fund but Jonathan Soros, the Soros-funded Open Society Policy Center, and the Tides Foundation. “Every Voice,” Influence Watch, https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/every-voice/.
49. “New Venture Fund 990,” Influence Watch, https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2019/03/New-Venture-Fund-2017-Form-990-reduced.pdf.
50. Whitehouse also took aim at the Pacific Legal Foundation, criticizing it for engaging in impact litigation by finding sympathetic clients to bring cases it hoped would shift the law in the direction they favored. That technique was pioneered by the ACLU and NAACP and included such famous cases as Rosa Parks and Brown v Board of Education. Whitehouse treated it as a devious and underhanded ploy, although Judge Kavanaugh attempted to explain that it is a common tool of legal groups across the political spectrum.