[AGL] Fwd: The "Whitehouse Effect"

[Frances Morey]

It is this kind of thing that makes the right wing so insidious. I love
Senator Whitehouse and wish he was in the running as the nominee of the
Democratic Party in this 2020 election. He is a genuinely real Democrat in
the Senate in spirit and in fact.
Best,
Frances

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Sheldon Whitehouse <info at whitehouseforsenate.com>
Date: Fri, May 1, 2020 at 11:38 AM
Subject: The "Whitehouse Effect"
To: Frances Morey <frances.morey at gmail.com>


<https://action.whitehouseforsenate.com/page/m/2f0e1b51/dcac9ef/3bdbff2a/47b752ef/2781186666/VEsH/?g=VE6nV1DdY9BYw6O_PUxxfQA>

<https://action.whitehouseforsenate.com/page/m/2f0e1b51/dcac9ef/3bdbff2a/47b752ef/2781186666/VEsE/?g=VE6nV1DdY9BYw6O_PUxxfQA>

A curious thing happened this week, Frances: the Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
Editorial Board singled me out, for filing a brief in the recent *New York
State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York* 2nd Amendment case.
This was the case where the Supreme Court refused to give a ruling the gun
lobby had hoped for. The WSJ explanation for that failure is something they
call the “Whitehouse Effect,” which they attribute to my supposedly
outsized influence on the Roberts Court.

Here is the exchange we had: *their editorial
<https://action.whitehouseforsenate.com/page/m/2f0e1b51/dcac9ef/3bdbff2a/47b752ec/2781186666/VEsF/?g=VE6nV1DdY9BYw6O_PUxxfQA>*,
*my reply
<https://action.whitehouseforsenate.com/page/m/2f0e1b51/dcac9ef/3bdbff2a/47b752ed/2781186666/VEsC/?g=VE6nV1DdY9BYw6O_PUxxfQA>*
(which I must concede they were good enough to publish), and their
immediate *counter-editorial
<https://action.whitehouseforsenate.com/page/m/2f0e1b51/dcac9ef/3bdbff2a/47b752ea/2781186666/VEsD/?g=VE6nV1DdY9BYw6O_PUxxfQA>*
.

Justice Alito even used his dissent in the N.Y. Rifle case to complain
about my brief, warning darkly about “manipulation” of the Court’s docket.

The notion that a junior Senator in the Senate minority could have that
sort of outsized influence is preposterous, of course. So let’s dig a bit
deeper.

What is most notable about the Wall Street Journal’s preposterous
editorials is what they leave out. *There is no mention – none – of dark
money, or the secretive right-wing influence machine behind conservative
judicial appointments, or the appalling partisan record of the Roberts
Court.* It’s like talking about Noah without mentioning the Flood.

The WSJ Editorial Board made no reference to Leonard Leo and the
dark-money-funded Federalist Society, with its list of pre-approved
far-right judges and influence in the selection process, well documented by
the *Washington Post
<https://action.whitehouseforsenate.com/page/m/2f0e1b51/dcac9ef/3bdbff2a/47b752eb/2781186666/VEsA/?g=VE6nV1DdY9BYw6O_PUxxfQA>*.
There’s no discussion of the *Judicial Crisis Network’s dark-money
<https://action.whitehouseforsenate.com/page/m/2f0e1b51/dcac9ef/3bdbff2a/47b752e8/2781186666/VEsB/?g=VE6nV1DdY9BYw6O_PUxxfQA>*
advertising in support of ultraconservative nominees. Nor of the
dark-money-fueled Pacific Legal Foundation and its ilk bringing cases
before the Court, nor of the scripted chorus of dark-money-backed groups
filing “amicus” briefs. My brief described this dark-money mess, but you’d
never know that from the WSJ editorials.

Worse still, the WSJ Editorial Board overlooked the *pattern of 80 5-4
partisan decisions made by the “Roberts Five,”
<https://action.whitehouseforsenate.com/page/m/2f0e1b51/dcac9ef/3bdbff2a/47b752e9/2781186666/VEsO/?g=VE6nV1DdY9BYw6O_PUxxfQA>*
all supporting big Republican donors and special interests.

The dark money around the Court is indefensible, and the pattern of
decisions undeniable, so they just pretend it’s not there.

*In reality, the manipulation at the Supreme Court is not any “Whitehouse
Effect,” but a right-wing, dark-money machine that seeks to influence the
Court’s workings.* The scale and persistence of this effort is remarkable,
and its record of success through those 80 partisan decisions is ominous.
But “nothing here, folks, move along” is what the WSJ Editorial Board would
prefer you to think, so the miraculous “Whitehouse Effect” is created.

It goes without saying that the big Republican interests behind the court
capture scheme are the same ones for which the WSJ Editorial Page is a
reliable mouthpiece, and the same ones whose dark money supports Mitch
McConnell and the Republican Party. (No surprise the Senate is being called
back in the midst of pandemic to clear an unqualified right-wing judge onto
the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.)

It all starts to make sense when you see who’s pulling the strings.

Obviously, this WSJ editorial effort won’t scare me away – I’ll keep
calling out the dark-money assault on our courts for what it is: a danger,
and a degradation of one of America’s most important institutions. The
Court must rid itself of this dark-money stain.

Sincerely,

Sheldon

This email was sent to frances.morey at gmail.com.
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