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Seizing the Supreme Court the Ford Foundation’S War on the Judicial System Continues

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Seizing the Supreme Court the Ford Foundation’S War on the Judicial System Continues Stopping Juvenile Detention: Seizing the Supreme Court The Ford Foundation’s war on the judicial system continues By Fred Lucas Summary: The Ford Foundation, which long ago abandoned the conservatism of its benefactor, is trying to help the Left seize control of the U.S. Supreme Court. The goal is to enact a radical checklist of social change by promoting novel in- terpretations of the Constitution. he Ford Foundation has long sought to use its vast financial resources to Treshape the legal landscape. But until recently it has focused on influencing various left-wing nonprofit law firms and indoctrinating the nation’s law students. (See Foundation Watch, July 2013). After the sudden death of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, however, the founda- tion now has the chance to have a far more direct impact on the nation’s juris- prudence. Thanks to many Ford allies, the pressure campaign to replace Justice Scalia with a left-wing jurist was imme- diately well underway. President of the Ford Foundation, Darren Walker, speaks at an Elton John The nation’s fifth largest philanthropy AIDS Foundation event in November 2015. (2014 assets: $12.4 billion) now wants to do whatever it can to tilt the high inee. The Ford Foundation contributed a court majority to the left in order to re- large chunk—$28 million—of the total define American law and policy for gen- (NewsBusters, Feb. 22, 2016, http://bit. June 2016 erations to come. ly/25RE1w3). Over the last decade these organizations were heavily involved in An analysis by NewsBusters found CONTENTS that since 2003, the Ford Foundation Supreme Court confirmation battles: and George Soros-aligned groups have first in trying to block the nominations given at least $50 million to left-wing of George W. Bush’s appointees, Chief Seizing the Supreme Court legal organizations that are now trying Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Page 1 to push the Republican-controlled Sen- Alito; then advocating for the confirma- ate to confirm Judge Merrick Garland, tion of Obama high court appointees So- Philanthropy Notes President Obama’s Supreme Court nom- nia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Page 8 FoundationWatch According to the FoundationSearch da- nomination until the people’s choice for a nation’s two centuries of history. Judge tabase, the Ford Foundation has given new president was in office. Left-wingers Douglas Ginsburg, nominated Oct. 29, $11.9 million (since 2003) to the Lead- rejoined by pointing to the election-year 1987, pulled out a week later when his ership Conference on Civil and Human confirmation of Justice Anthony Kenne- past marijuana use was revealed. Rights; $4.6 million (since 2000) to the dy. President Ronald Reagan nominated Kennedy’s confirmation did not shift the Alliance for Justice, and almost $722,000 Kennedy in late 1987 after Nixon ap- ideological balance of the high court. (since 2000) to People for the American pointee Lewis F. Powell Jr., a Democrat Kennedy, a judicial moderate, simply Way, which pioneered the ugly practice by partisan affiliation, announced his -re replaced Powell, another moderate, pre- of “borking” Republican nominees to the tirement in June 1987, seventeen months serving the ideological status quo. high court (the term refers to the cam- before the next election. Kennedy was paign of slander waged against the distin- confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 4, 1988. By contrast, the vacancy left by Scalia’s death could put the nation’s basic consti- guished Judge Robert Bork after Reagan Among those left-wingers predictably nominated him in 1987). tutional liberties at risk for generations shouting “gotcha!” was Wade Hender- to come. Religious freedom, free speech, While Justice Scalia’s body was still son, president and CEO of the Leadership the individual right to bear arms, and warm, these organizations, along with Conference on Civil and Human Rights, other fundamental personal freedoms the Soros-backed American Bridge 21st a recipient of Ford’s largesse, as noted and human rights are all on the target list Century political action committee, all above. “The anniversary of Justice Ken- of progressive statists. It is not hyperbo- carried out a public relations campaign nedy’s swearing in is even more proof le to say that one new left-wing justice with a near identical theme. Each sent that the Senate can and should work on a could take a sledgehammer to the Bill of email blasts to supporters slamming the bipartisan basis to ensure a full bench on Rights. Pro-freedom votes of 5 to 4 on Senate Republicans as “obstructionists” the Supreme Court in 2016,” Henderson the Supreme Court could easily become for not quickly confirming Obama’s said in a statement. “Six justices have anti-freedom 5 to 4 votes. choice to replace Scalia. been confirmed during election years and Wiping out fundamental constitutional The Republicans replied that they thought to suggest otherwise is peddling fiction.” rights that actually appear in America’s it preferable not to consider a nomination “The work of the Supreme Court is too supreme law, and then replacing them during an election year and instead to al- important to the nation to allow a vacan- with newly invented rights based on iden- low the American people to help choose cy to go unfilled for an extended period tity politics that empower the government the next justice by deferring the next of time,” Henderson continued. “Senator over individuals has been the strategy of McConnell and those following his lead progressive statists for decades. These so- are taking obstruction to new heights of called group rights typically fall under the cynicism and are flirting with a consti- Editor: Matthew Vadum manufactured categories of “Economic tutional crisis of their own making. We Justice,” “Environmental Justice,” “Social Publisher: Scott Walter urge the Senate to look to the Constitu- Change” and various other notions of “fair- tion, to history, and to common sense and Foundation Watch ness.” is published by Capital Research work with President Obama to confirm a Center, a non-partisan education and justice in the months ahead.” Few organizations have done more to research organization, classified by fund this fundamental transformation than Henderson’s talking points are similar to the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. the Ford Foundation. Now Ford and its what has been used by the White House far-left allies see an opportunity, and to Address: on the Merrick Garland nomination, re- 1513 16th Street, N.W. give them credit, they have been preparing peating the name of Anthony Kennedy Washington, DC 20036-1480 for just such a chance to carry out a mas- over and over again but leaving out im- sive overhaul of American society. For Phone: (202) 483-6900 portant contextual details. Long-Distance: (800) 459-3950 example, the Alliance for Justice, which But it is not a fair comparison. also received $1.825 million from George E-mail Address: [email protected] After Powell announced his retirement, Soros’s Open Society Institute, had al- Reagan’s first two proposed replace- ready established something called the Ju- Web Site: ments went down in flames in the face dicial Selection Project before Scalia died http://www.capitalresearch.org of Democratic opposition. Robert Bork, (NewsBusters, Discover the Networks). Organization Trends welcomes let- nominated July 1, 1987, 16 months be- The Alliance’s website states: “If you ters to the editor. fore the next election, was rejected by care about civil liberties, clean air, pri- Reprints are available for $2.50 pre- the Senate on Oct. 23 after one of the vacy, reproductive rights, social justice, paid to Capital Research Center. most bilious confirmation battles in the corporate accountability, equality, and 2 June 2016 FoundationWatch fairness, then you care about our federal ate, whose only constitutional responsi- lawyers that all was well. courts.” The site ignores the real threat bility with regards to judicial nominees And so Ford began large-scale left- faced by the country from overzealous, is to provide “advice and consent,” has wing advocacy through the courts. By unelected judges making law from the every right not to consent and has no ob- throwing lots of money around for le- bench by asserting that federal judges ligation to hold a hearing. gal projects and installing its toadies “protect” Americans from the persons Ford Goes to Court on nonprofit boards, Ford drove many who are actually accountable to voters. The Ford Foundation began pursuing the moderate Latino organizations to hard- “Every day, federal judges protect the goal of changing America’s legal land- left positions. Some of the most in- Constitution, place a check on overzeal- scape in the 1950s. So-called public in- fluential legal groups that Ford built ous legislatures, and help Americans terest law, wherein lawyers effectively almost single-handedly include the find justice,” the organization states. become lobbyists for the poor in court, Mexican American Legal Defense and “AFJ’s Judicial Selection Project moni- arose out of Ford’s efforts to overhaul Educational Fund (MALDEF), Nation- tors and assesses federal judicial nomi- law school curricula to promote social al Council of La Raza, and LatinoJus- nations to ensure our courts are staffed change. In the next two decades the foun- tice PRLDEF. While the Ford Founda- with highly-qualified judges that will dation put more money into “legal action tion has been focused on immigration safeguard the rights of all Americans … centers” at many law schools to promote and refugees since the 1950s, its pivot not just the privileged few.” the so-called rights revolution. Ford took to open borders took place in the late 1960s, just a few years after immigra- tion reform ushered in the age of chain As far back as the 1950s, Ford began migration.
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