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Accountable.US’s new report exposing that conservative dark money groups gave $89,705,670 to organizations actively supporting the plaintiffs in the landmark Supreme Court case, Moore v, Harper, received widespread attention in several media outlets. 

The new report details the significant donations made to influential right-wing groups that filed amicus briefs in the upcoming Supreme Court case, Moore v. Harper, voicing support for the implementation of the fringe Independent State Legislature Theory, which would essentially give sole authority over federal elections to state legislatures and disrupt American democracy. Many of these same groups engage in advocacy work to place burdensome restrictions on ballot access, bolster gerrymandering, and recently aided in the failed effort to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. 

Media Highlights:

  • Salon: “These groups that operate behind the scenes, they know that their agendas are unpopular, and so they’re using broad networks of right-wing organizations to try to influence the courts,” Kayla Hancock, Director of Power and Influence program at Accountable.US, said. “In this specific instance, these people are going in front of the courts in order to advance their fringe agenda from the shadows, because they know they’re not going to be able to enact these unpopular policies otherwise.”

  • The Guardian: “[M]any of the groups backing the theory come from Republican-aligned and conservative groups. Conservative dark money groups have given nearly $90m to groups that have filed friend-of-the-court briefs backing the theory, according to a report from the watchdog group Accountable.US.”

  • Sludge: “In 2020 and 2021, HEP received more than $65.8 million from DonorsTrust, a major conduit group used by the Koch network of political donors, according to new profiles of conservative funding groups available on MonitoringInfluence from the watchdog group Accountable.US. In 2020, as it ramped up its ISLT effort.”

  • Salon: “Just look who’s behind the ISLT claims. According to the nonpartisan watchdog group, Accountable.US, reactionary dark money groups have donated $90 million to advocacy groups supporting the Republican legislators’ claims in Moore.”

  • Truthout: “According to research by Accountable.US, over the past six years, right-wing dark money groups have given nearly $90 million to five organizations, including the Honest Elections Project and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), that have filed in court to support the anti-democratic plaintiffs in Moore v. Harper.”
  • RawStory: “It’s obviously a fringe, extremist legal theory that’s being funded by these wealthy conservative donors, and these are people who know their extreme agenda isn’t popular,” said Kayla Hancock, director of power and influence at Accountable.US. “So they’re spending millions of dollars to stack the Supreme Court and chip away at our democratic rights and freedoms by influencing these institutions.”

  • Yahoo: “Conservative dark money groups have given nearly $90m to groups that have filed friend-of-the-court briefs backing the theory, according to a report from the watchdog group Accountable.US.” 
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