Durbin Slams Dark Money Influence in Federal Courts & Voting Rights

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered an opening statement during a Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights hearing titled, “What's Wrong with the Supreme Court: The Big-Money Assault on Our Judiciary.”  During his statement, Durbin expressed support for exposing and addressing the special-interest, dark money influence over the federal courts, elections, and voting rights. Durbin slammed the Judicial Crisis Network’s efforts to run false and misleading ads against Vanita Gupta’s nomination to be Associate Attorney General and the previous Supreme Court nomination of Attorney General Merrick Garland, as well as efforts to fund voter suppression campaigns across the country. 

“I’d like to know more about the Judicial Crisis Network. I’m not saying they don’t have a right to speak their mind, but I think we have a right to ask: Who paid for it? Who’s really behind this effort?”  Durbin said.

“I understand that this dark money effort is going toward the voter suppression campaign across America. In more than 40 states, over 250 proposals, all of which are designed to restrict voting in America…  And now there is an effort underway to impose voter suppression in the United States again to suppress the votes of Black and Brown people. Why is this a reoccurring theme in American history, and what does it say about us that we want to make it more difficult for people to exercise their right to vote?” Durbin continued.

Video of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s opening statement is available here for TV Stations. 

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