May 28, 2020
INSTITUTIONAL ROT:
The Right-Wing Legal Network Is Now Openly Pushing Conspiracy Theories (DAHLIA LITHWICK and RICHARD L. HASEN, MAY 27, 2020, Slate)
According to new reporting from The Guardian and Open Secrets, Leo, Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network, and their dark-money backers are promoting the Orwellian-named "Honest Elections Project" to pressure elections administrators to limit access to the ballot and to undermine trust in elections. The messaging echoes Trump's baseless claims that various states' efforts to let people vote by mail are fraudulent--and turns these lies into policy. "The project announced it was spending $250,000 in advertisements in April, warning against voting by mail and accusing Democrats of cheating," the Guardian explained. "It facilitated letters to election officials in Colorado, Florida and Michigan, using misleading data to accuse jurisdictions of having bloated voter rolls and threatening legal action. Calling voter suppression a 'myth', it has also been extremely active in the courts, filing briefs in favor of voting restrictions in Nevada, Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin and Minnesota, among other places, at times represented by lawyers from the same firm that represents Trump."
"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."
― Eric Hoffer, The Temper of Our Time
Posted by Orrin Judd at May 28, 2020 12:00 AM