Liberal Forum

Dark Money Group Received Massive Donation In Fight Against Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee

A dark money organization that spent $7 million to block former President Obama’s Supreme Court pick received just three donations between 2015 and 2016, but one transaction really counted: A single $17.9 million contribution from a mystery donor.

The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a Washington, D.C.-based conservative nonprofit, saw its revenues explode as it ran ads thanking Republican senators who successfully prevented Merrick Garland, Obama’s pick to replace Antonin Scalia, from receiving a confirmation hearing.

It also sent millions of dollars to nonprofits that worked to elect conservative state judicial candidates and attorneys general.

Earlier this year, JCN spent $10 million on ads to help secure Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation.

The organization’s most recent tax return, covering July 2015 to June 2016, shows JCN’s anti-Garland spending spree was fueled by three contributions.

The $17.9 million donation accounted for 96.6 percent of its revenue.

Before the donation, the organization had never reported more than $6 million in revenue since its 2005 creation.



Because it is a nonprofit, JCN isn’t required to publicly disclose its donors, and the organization declined to answer questions about the source of its massive cash infusion.

But in the past, much of its funding has come from the Wellspring Committee, a secretive Virginia-based dark money organization.

Wellspring reported giving JCN more than $15 million between 2012 and 2015; it was one of only two contributors to JCN between July 2014 and June 2015.