Dear Friend,
In the past year, the conservative-led Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, kneecapped the Environmental Protection Agency, attacked reasonable gun control legislation, and hacked away at the Voting Rights Act. Many of its controversial decisions have come down through the “shadow docket,” released without any explanation and sometimes in the middle of the night, to escape scrutiny.
In fact, the justices have often been as secretive about their decisions as they have been about their shady finances.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch and even Chief Justice John Roberts have been recently caught up in ethics scandals that they stubbornly refuse to answer any questions about—including decades of extravagant gifts from a right-wing billionaire who has paintings by Adolf Hitler in his private museum collection (Thomas), secret sweetheart real estate deals (Thomas and Gorsuch), and million-dollar payments to prominent law firms that have business before the Supreme Court (Roberts).
Meanwhile, Ron Desantis is teasing a presidential run that promises to stack more conservatives onto the court, emboldening judicial extremists like Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, whom DeSantis calls “the gold standard of jurisprudence.”
As you read these words, the court is deciding cases that could dismantle legislative maps and the rules governing elections, allow for businesses to openly discriminate against same-sex couples, and revoke affirmative action.
The New Republic’s mission is to shine a spotlight on corruption and attempts to subvert democracy. As a leading force in the effort to investigate and examine the arguments and behind-the-scenes maneuvering that underlie the Supreme Court’s most polarizing decisions, we are laser-focused on next month’s opinions.
TNR editor Michael Tomasky is marshaling our small staff, and resident Scotus expert Matt Ford is interviewing Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a prominent Supreme Court critic, at a virtual TNR Live event on June 1. Please join them.
But the sheer volume of corruption allegations and relentless judicial activism of the current Supreme Court demand that we do more. We desperately need to launch a new Supreme Court Watch to expand our investigations of the nation’s highest court and the far-reaching damage it is continuing to do to American democracy.
This is where you come in. We’re in the final, final push on our campaign to launch our new Supreme Court Watch—in fact, we are less than $5,000 away from our $25,000 goal. That is a very achievable number if readers like you step up.
Small, individual donors have long been the backbone of our democracy, contributing to just causes that protect and defend our nation in times of crisis. This is one of those times. We hope that you are one of those Americans.
If you think that the Supreme Court needs to be investigated, that it is using its powers to chip away at the fundamental rights of you and your fellow citizens, please help us in this urgent campaign.
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