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 foundation 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 influential 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 immigration reform ushered in the age of chain As far back as the 1950s, Ford began migration. using its grants to change law school The American Civil Liberties Union and its affiliates have also been big - recipi curricula to create “social change.” A ents of Ford Foundation largesse, taking Ford-sponsored panel said the goal was in more than $11 million in grants since 2000. “The ACLU has had no better “developing the social conscience of law partner and friend than the Ford Founda- students and professors.” As usual, the tion,” then-ACLU executive director Ira Glasser asserted in a 1999 press release word social here should be read as code after receiving a $7 million donation. “It for socialist. is fitting that the largest single gift to this effort, and in fact the largest gift ever to the ACLU, should come from Ford.” Alliance president Nan Aron and Kyle C. advantage of the courts’ growing predis- The Ford Foundation has long sought Barry, his director of justice programs, position to promote change by rewriting to give the country a legal transforma- wrote an op-ed piece for the far-left mag- America’s laws from the bench. tion by overhauling law schools. Ford azine, the Nation, with the headline, “We Funding organizations with a political helped fund more than 100 law schools Already Had an Election to Decide Who agenda used to be novel. During his time in promoting the “rights revolution” Gets to Appoint the Next Supreme Court at Ford, Bundy was concerned that his that involved pushing court cases on Justice. It was in 2012.” own board, and the IRS, could object. He behalf of the “traditionally underrepre- People for the American Way, which once asked, “What if somebody hassles sented groups” to gain court decisions also received $6.45 million from Soros- us about the charitable nature of this?” that would have the effect of creating endowed philanthropies since 2003 ac- (Discover the Networks). Even Bundy new “rights”—in most cases, rights for cording to NewsBusters, created a peti- realized that suing people was not usu- groups rather than for individuals. Ford tion saying, “Tell Senators: Do Your Job. ally understood to be a charitable act. But established centers within law schools Give Obama’s Nominee Fair Consider- with the help of Sanford Jaffe, director where law professors would collaborate ation.” The petition goes on to claim that of the Ford Foundation’s Government with activist attorneys and indoctrinate “Senate Republicans are putting parti- and Law Program from 1968 to 1983, law students into the fold. Other liberal sanship above the Constitution.” Bundy was able to manipulate his board foundations followed Ford’s lead, but This is a silly argument, because no one members as well as the Nixon adminis- few others put the same financial muscle says or implies that Obama doesn’t have tration’s Treasury Department (which behind it (Foundation Watch, July 2013). the right to nominate a justice. The Sen- oversees the IRS), using the “expert” re- In this case, as far back as the 1950s, assurances of prominent Establishment June 2016 3 FoundationWatch

Ford began using its grants to change courts’ growing willingness to defer to In its early years, the Ford Foundation law school curricula to create “social “international law” (Foundation Watch, operated in Michigan under the direction change.” A Ford-sponsored panel said July 2013). of the Ford family. After Henry Ford’s the goal was “developing the social con- On the international front, the Ford death in 1947, Edsel’s son, Henry Ford science of law students and professors.” Foundation has pushed the narrative II joined the foundation’s board and be- As usual, the word social here should be that the United States is a grave human came its chairman. read as code for socialist. rights violator, both at home and abroad, The younger Ford ordered the draft- Similarly, the foundation launche d the and must be made subject to the Inter- ing of a long-term action plan for the Council on Legal Education for Profes- national Criminal Court. Ford grants to foundation. It came in 1949 in the form sional Responsibility in 1968 to develop law schools, notably Columbia Univer- of the Gaither Study Committee report, law school clinics, something new at the sity and New York University, come with which recommended the foundation be- time. The objective was to take students demands for international scrutiny of come an international philanthropy. The directly into everyday pro bono legal work, beyond books and lectures—on its face, a worthy goal for any higher It was the Ford Foundation that education discipline. But there was a aggressively used grants to help foist darker agenda: Using the schools to provide resources—as well as credibility— the airy-fairy, anti-American doctrines to support pro bono work in test cases of multiculturalism on the nation’s that would enact left-wing public policy through the courts. Such work, Ford offi- campuses. cials knew, was likely to mold the beliefs of the budding legal practitioners. Expos- the supposed human rights hellhole that document stated that grants should go to ing young law students to sympathetic is America. Ford explained in its report causes that “promise significant contri- clients would encourage them to seek Many Roads to Justice that “Grantees butions to world peace and the establish- “social change” as attorneys. use two strategic approaches. They argue ment of a world order of law and justice”; In 1989, the foundation established the for the application of international laws that “secure greater allegiance to the ba- Inter-University Consortium on Poverty in domestic courts and they take cases sic principles of freedom and democracy Law. This syndicate sought “the mobi- to international tribunals when domestic in the solution of the insistent problems lization of law schools for poverty law options have proved unsuccessful.” of an ever-changing society”; that “ad- advocacy.” Ford’s Historic Left Turn vance the economic well-being of people everywhere and improve economic insti- With the carrot of major grants, Ford The Ford Foundation is the nation’s fifth- tutions for the better realization of demo- pushed America’s law schools toward largest philanthropic organization. It cratic goals”; that “strengthen, expand identity politics, using movements such has assets of more than $12 billion, and and improve educational facilities and as legal feminism, Critical Race Theory, awards about $500 million in grants each methods to enable individuals to realize and others. Through university funding, year to recipients around the world. The more fully their intellectual, civic and Ford has helped directly finance litiga- New Yorker described the Ford Founda- spiritual potential; to promote greater tion on behalf of Native American tribes tion as having a “rare and heady blend of equality of educational opportunity; and suing over land ownership for cities as power and freedom: they are beholden to to conserve and increase knowledge and large as Syracuse and Denver, and also no one, neither consumers nor sharehold- enrich our culture”; and that “increase suing for slavery reparations—among ers nor clients nor donors nor voters, and knowledge of factors that influence or many other high-profile issues. they have half a billion dollars each year determine human conduct, and extend For more than 50 years the Ford Founda- to spend on whatever they like.” such knowledge for the maximum ben- tion has been working to turn the nation’s That’s quite impressive for an organization efit of individuals and society” (Ford law schools into engines of Sixties-style chartered with a gift of just $25,000 from Foundation, Discover the Networks). social change. Other large institutional Edsel Ford in 1936, the only son of Ford With liberal Republican Paul Hoffman at donors like Carnegie, Soros, and MacAr- Motor Co. founder Henry Ford. The initial the helm, the foundation moved its head- thur have followed Ford’s path, and the goal of the organization was “to receive quarters to New York in 1953. In 1966, result can be seen in landmark Supreme and administer funds for scientific, educa- McGeorge Bundy—who had served as Court decisions, the plethora of politi- tion purposes, for the public welfare,” ac- National Security Advisor for Presidents cized “legal clinics” on campus, and U.S. cording to the philanthropy’s website. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. John- 4 June 2016 FoundationWatch son—became the foundation’s president. ism,” he wrote in a public letter when he objects that he’d picked up on his nearly Bundy, another liberal Republican, had left, and yet it is hard to find capitalism “in constant travels,” the magazine reported. initially supported military interven- anything the foundation does. It is even Identity Politics is Job One tion in Vietnam but later regretted it and more difficult to find an understanding of moved farther left politically. this in many of the institutions particularly It was the Ford Foundation that aggres- the universities that are the beneficiaries sively used grants to help foist the airy- Like many veterans of the Kennedy ad- fairy, anti-American doctrines of mul- ministration, Bundy loathed President of the foundation’s grant program” (Front- PageMag.com, Jan. 9, 2004). ticulturalism on the nation’s campuses. Richard Nixon. Bundy pushed to ex- In 1990, then-Ford president Franklin pand the welfare state, supported militant The organization “supported and culti- Thomas said the philanthropy’s goal was groups such as the Black Panthers, and vated” through scholarships, fellowships, to “broaden cultural and intellectual di- other causes dear to radicals. exchanges, and professional training 45 versity in American higher education,” As Discover the Networks observes, Nobel Peace Prize winners, and other and to “ensure that college curricula and notable figures including former United Under Bundy, the Ford Foundation teaching keep pace with the rapid demo- Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan graphic and cultural changes under way launched a new style of politicized and feminist icon Gloria Steinem. giving and became a radical force in in American society.” American life. […] The politicized The foundation’s 16-member board is Thomas added, “Most of us have little grants continued after that, as the made up of individuals from four conti- understanding of the diverse culture, at- Ford Foundation, particularly dur- nents and includes Cecile Richards, pres- titudes, and experiences that make up our ing the Nixon years, came to see ident of Planned Parenthood Federation own societies. Unfortunately, this igno- itself as a government-in-exile, an of America. rance about other cultures breeds insen- engine for social transformation. The foundation’s 10th and current presi- sitivity and intolerance in young and old Bundy transformed the Foundation dent is Darren Walker. Walker was pre- alike.… To reach the roots of intolerance into a leading sponsor of left-wing viously vice president of the Rockefeller and improve campus life, we must make causes such as the expansion of Foundation. Before that he practiced in- the teaching of non-Western cultures a the welfare state, nuclear disarma- ternational and business law at Cleary, basic element of undergraduate educa- ment, environmental advocacy, and Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton, and as an tion” (FrontPageMag, Jan. 9, 2004). the creation of “civil rights” inter- attorney for UBS. Walker is a member (Thomas apparently had not considered est groups that emphasized ethnic of the boards of Carnegie Hall, the New the comment of Allan Bloom, author of identity and ethnic power, or “mul- York City Ballet, the High Line, and the The Closing of the American Mind, who ticulturalism,” over integration and Arcus Foundation. He is a member of quipped that what we learn from the assimilation into the American cul- the Council of Foreign Relations and the study of other cultures is that other culture. Ford gave as much as $300 American Academy of Arts and Scienc- tures do not wish to learn from the study million per year throughout the es. Since 2011, Walker has contributed of other cultures.) 1960s to support such causes. $5,250 to Democratic candidates, includ- That year, the Ford Foundation invited Henry Ford II wasn’t staunchly opposed ing a $250 contribution to Obama’s 2012 200 universities to compete for grants to all of the causes, but he was concerned presidential campaign (Center for Re- of $100,000 or more to open African the group might be leaning in an anti- sponsive Politics). American Studies departments and vari- capitalist direction, which to him seemed The New Yorker described Walker as a unreasonable for an organization named somewhat eccentric character who had for one of history’s greatest capitalist en- disseminated a short video of himself Please remember trepreneurs and utterly dependent on the dancing to Pharrell Williams’s upbeat wealth his business created. In 1976, the pop song “Happy.” Capital Research Center younger Ford resigned from the board, “On his bookshelves were a furry red having overseen the transformation of Elmo; a yellow cow; a shiny blue min- what had been a local foundation in De- iature Jeff Koons puppy; a miniature in your will and estate planning. troit to an agenda-setting philanthropy yellow-and-green rickshaw from Delhi; with a global focus. The move also sev- a miniature red rickshaw from Jakarta; a Thank you for your support. ered the remaining connections among large framed portrait of his English bull- the foundation, the Ford family, and Ford dog, Mary Lou; a small framed portrait of Scott Walter, President Motor Co. his partner, David Beitzel; and a couple of “The Foundation is a creature of capital- small gold Buddhas, among many other June 2016 5 FoundationWatch ous other ethnic studies departments. It amounted to a massive bribery program Top 20 Funders of LGBTQ Issues by Total aimed at balkanizing America, but it was certainly a carrot to push grant-hungry Dollar Amount colleges to bend their curricula to a diversity focus, not that different from the 1 Arcus Foundation 11 American Jewish World Service way Ford influenced law schools. To be New York, NY New York, NY eligible for the grants, the universities $16,999,935 $2,851,552 also had to adhere to Ford’s affirmative action goals in faculty and admissions. Thus, Ford has managed to shape uni- 2 Ford Foundation 12 Tides Foundation versity admission and employment poli- New York, NY San Francisco, CA cies through its deep pockets. Later, Ford $15,367,614 $2,830,901 would almost single-handedly provide 3 Gill Foundation 13 H. van Ameringen Foundation the money for the university lawyer- Denver, CO New York, NY ing needed to defend in the courts the $7,044,202 $2,815,000 reverse-racist admission policies it had bequeathed to America. 4 Open Society Foundations 14 David Bohnett Foundation New York, NY Beverly Hills, CA A panelist for the Ford Foundation, Wes- $6,482,475 $2,475,132 leyan University psychology professor Robert Steele, said financial coercion, 5 Gilead Sciences 15 ViiV Healthcare not dialogue, is necessary to achieve the Foster City, CA Research Triangle Park, NC ends of multiculturalism. “People will $6,126,347 $2,384,132 not be quietly assimilated to multiculturalism by truth through dialogue,” Steele 6 Pride Foundation 16 Levi Strauss Company said. “You get research assistants, you Seattle, WA Foundation give mentoring” (FrontPageMag.com; $5,381,984 San Francisco, CA Jan. 9, 2004). $2,370,950 The Ford Foundation is also credited with creating the field of women’s stud- 7 Evelyn and Walter 17 Elton John AIDS Foundation ies at colleges and universities. In 2004, Haas Jr. Fund New York, NY then-president Susan Berresford said San Francisco, CA $2,360,656 one measure she used to determine suc- $5,276,823 cessful grantmaking: “when the founda- 8 Wells Fargo 18 Astraea Lesbian Foundation for tion helps people build a whole field of San Francisco, CA Justice knowledge—demography in the past, $3,637,165 New York, NY women’s studies more recently.” $2,299,691 Going even further, history professor and feminist author Susan M. Hartmann im- 9 amFAR, American Foundation 19 The California Endowment putes the creation of feminism itself to for AIDS Research Los Angeles, CA the Ford Foundation. She takes us back New York, NY $1,981,065 to 1971, when a group of feminist activ- $3,385,946 ists approached the foundation to request 10 M.A.C. AIDS Fund 20 Proteus Fund – Civil Marriage funding to target universities. There were New York, NY Collaborative about 100 women’s studies programs at $3,381,757 Amherst, MA the time. The next year, Ford announced $1,750,642 a $1 million national fellowship program for “faculty and doctoral dissertation research on the role of women in society and TOTAL: $97,203,969 Women’s Studies broadly construed.” Source: http://www.lgbtfunders.org/files/2014_Tracking_Report.pdf By 1985, Ford had established the Wom-

6 June 2016 FoundationWatch en’s Program Forum, a consortium of task, everyone agreed, was to ‘disrupt grant makers and Ford staffers tasked the drivers of inequality.’ In order to do with directing funding for women’s is- that, it was necessary to ascertain what sues globally. Five years later, the Ford those drivers were, so program officers Foundation became the lead funder of the all around the world had been instructed Campus Diversity Initiative. The foun- to write reports identifying the chief driv- dation is also the leading funder of the ers of inequality in their regions. After National Women’s Studies Association, those reports were collected, many, many which is based at the University of Mary- meetings were held in the conference land (FrontPageMag.com; Feb. 20, 2004). rooms of the New York office.” All of these initiatives are designed to Defining inequality might have been a bit change curricula. Today the number of of a challenge, but interestingly, the orga- women’s studies programs on university nization decided to scrap LGBTQ rights and college campuses has ballooned to in America as a priority, because so much more than 800. has already been achieved in its view. A group called Funders for LGBTQ Is- So, the organization shifted its focus to sues found that the Ford Foundation is global gender issues, “Internet rights,” the second-largest donor in the LGBTQ and “inclusive capitalism.” In the plan- (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and ning process, there is to be a minimum queer) area as well, NewsBusters report- of four and a maximum of eight thematic ed (Feb. 29, 2016). In 2014, 313 foun- areas, each with a budget of $20 million, dations and corporations made 4,552 the New Yorker reports. LGBTQ grants worth a total of just over Conclusion $153.2 million—a record (See table on The Ford Foundation has used its vast page 6). sums of money to ensure that individu- The Ford Foundation followed Soros’s als become weaker and smaller, while Open Society Foundations as top donor, government becomes larger and stronger. giving a combined $21.85 million. Ford’s The traditional name for this phenom- share was $15.3 million. Internationally, enon is collectivism, not diminishing the Ford Foundation was the top finan- inequality, and the idea has been Ford’s cier of LGBTQ issues in Sub-Saharan overriding goal for decades. Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, The progressive Left has invented rights, as well as Asia and the Pacific—giving usually group rights, to expand govern- that doubtless won America significant ment power. But the voters, by express- antipathy from many in those lands. ing their will in elections, have frequent- ‘Drivers of Inequality’ ly thwarted the Left’s plans Thus courts The Ford Foundation began financing have always been the Left’s best hope, Just Films in 2011 with $50 million to and it is no wonder the Ford Foundation create documentaries about social in- would use its resources to try to seize equality. This May, the foundation is control of the Supreme Court, ensuring promoting the distribution of the docu- that the remaining items on its radical mentaries at the Cannes Film Festival checklist can be imposed upon the rest (Philanthropy.com, Feb. 2, 2016). of us. Inequality, in fact, is now the organiza- Fred Lucas is a veteran political journal- tion’s lodestar. “Ford had recently de- ist in Washington. cided, in fact, that inequality was the FW problem of the times—more than climate change, for instance, or extremism,” La- rissa MacFarquhar of the New Yorker reported in the Jan. 4 issue. “The crucial

June 2016 7 FoundationWatch PhilanthropyNotes U.S. Department of Justice employees have given so much money to Hillary Clinton’s campaign that critics doubt the agency can handle her private email server case fairly. Clinton has accepted $73,437 in campaign contributions from DoJ employees, up from $15,930 during her 2008 presidential run, the Washington Free Beacon reports. In the current election cycle, Clinton rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has received $8,900 in donations from DoJ employees. Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican nominee, took in a meager $381 from DoJ employees. Citizens United president David Bossie said Attorney General Loretta Lynch should step back and appoint a special counsel to handle Clinton’s case. “How can Democrat political appointees fairly investigate someone who is about to become their nominee for president? … This investigation needs to be conducted free of political influence once and for all.”

Meanwhile, Trump has made a curious choice in Steven Mnuchin as finance chairman of his campaign. Mnuchin used to work for the pre-eminent funder of the Left, anti-American billionaire George Soros. Mnuchin was an investment banker or something similar for hedge fund Soros Fund Management LLC. Philanthropy reporter Rick Cohen noted in 2014 that Mnuchin is a philanthropist “with a family foundation (the Steven and Heather Mnuchin Foundation), a trustee of other foundations, and with service as a board member at the Los Angeles Police Foundation and the Museum of Contemporary Art.”

Some federal lawmakers say forcing super-wealthy elite colleges like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to cover the tuition of their students may be a good counterweight to outrageous, increasingly large tuition fees, according to the Wall Street Journal. “College costs have outpaced health-care inflation, and at the same time, there’s this benefit for endowments,” said watchdog Rep. Pete Roskam (R-Ill.), referring to the school’s untaxed endowments. Lawmakers have asked 56 private colleges whose endowments exceed $1 billion to provide details of their holdings and to explain how they reward big donors with naming rights.

Six donors and foundations donated $1.84 million in 2015 to the Barack Obama Foundation, which will build Obama’s presidential center on Chicago’s South Side, reports the Chicago Tribune. The Gill Foundation, which specializes in gay rights issues, was the largest donor at $347,000, followed by the Sacks Family Foundation at $333,334. Two New York couples, Lise Strickler and Mark Gallogly and Marilyn and Jim Simons, each donated $330,000. New Yorkers David and Beth Shaw donated $250,000. Maryland- based ImpactAssets also gave $250,000.

Around 2010 the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation unlawfully gave $2 million to Energy Pioneer Solutions Inc., a power company partly owned by Clinton family friend Julie Tauber McMahon, the Wall Street Journal reports. Tax-exempt charities like the foundation are supposed to act in the public interest, not to advance private commercial interests. Bill Clinton also endorsed the company to then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu for a federal grant. The grant came from Chu’s agency, which operated a program aimed at encouraging innovative approaches to weatherizing low-income people’s homes.

According to a former journalist who worked at Facebook, the social media giant’s so-called news curators “routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers from the social network’s influential ‘trending’ news section,” Gizmodo reports. The individual said employees “prevented stories about the right-wing CPAC gathering, Mitt Romney, Rand Paul, and other conservative topics from appearing in the highly-influential section, even though they were organically trending among the site’s users.” It’s the kind of progressive ideology we’ve come to expect from Mark Zuckerberg, who co-founded Facebook and denies that his company practices such censorship (see Foundation Watch, February 2016).

As Goldman Sachs Group Inc. continues to take a financial pounding, the international investment bank is unloading additional employees from its sales and trading division, the WSJ reports. “In its core trading business, Goldman has trimmed staff in recent years as more activity becomes electronic and some of the most potentially profitable trades have been curtailed by new capital rules and other regulations that discourage risk taking.” The company is trying to diversify its business offerings so it is less reliant on trading, its longtime cash cow.

8 June 2016