Daily Caller: ProPublica SCOTUS Ethics Stories Rely on Staunch Democrat Experts

July 21st, 2023 5:05 PM

The investigative reporting group "ProPublica" boasts it is an “independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest," but the tilt of its targeting is hard to miss. Its most recent crusade has focused on the allegedly shabby ethics of conservative Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Katelynn Richardson at the Daily Caller reported seven of the nine ethics experts cited in ProPublica’s stories on Thomas and Alito have collectively given over $100,000 to Democratic campaigns and left-wing causes, FEC records show. Several also work for organizations calling for Thomas’ resignation that are backed by donors that also fund ProPublica, the Caller previously reported.

As you might expert, the ProPublica stories did not disclose these ethics experts’ donations or the fact it shares donors with groups pushing for Thomas to resign.

Their experts included former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) -- who now runs the leftish American Constitution Society -- and Richard Painter, who has unsuccessfully run for Congress twice in Minnesota as a Democrat. There's more:

Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, has donated over $92,000 to Democrats and left-wing causes since she retired in 2011, according to FEC records. Most recently, in March 2023, Gertner donated $750, collectively, to the campaigns of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren...

Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), who is cited in three of ProPublica’s recent stories, contributed to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, former President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012 and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2004, totaling over $1,000 in donations, according to FEC records.

A ProPublica spokesperson told the DCNF that experts quoted in the stories are “professionals with deep expertise and reputations for independence, who regularly criticize Democrats and Republicans alike.” A record of staunchly funding Democrats would contradict a "reputation for independence."

Catholic Vote reported their most recent reader survey at ProPublica found that 89% of their readers identified as “liberal” while only seven percent identified as “conservative.” 

Last year, we noted ProPublica published preachy article headlined, “How the Biden Administration Caved to Republicans on Fighting Election Disinformation,” just one week before election day. 

ProPublica received $1,450,008 from George Soros between 2016 and 2019, in yet another example of a Soros-funded organization pushing censorship of election “disinformation” before the midterms.