WFB: Rhode Island senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D.) filed an amicus brief in court cases where cities and counties in California are suing major energy production companies for damages related to climate change, but did not disclose he had taken political donations from the attorneys who are conducting that litigation.
Currently, persons or agencies that file such briefs aren’t required to make such disclosures. However, Whitehouse has been one of the leading advocates for exactly that kind of transparency.
“In a Jan. 4 letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, [Sen. Whitehouse] chided the Court for accepting amicus—friend of the court—briefs from ‘special interest groups that fail to disclose their donors,'” wrote the Wall Street Journal editorial board, which broke the news. “He calls out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as think tanks and policy shops that receive money from right-of-center foundations. Mr. Whitehouse claims these ‘repeat-player’ filers are unduly influencing the Court, even as they hide their ‘deep-pocketed corporate contributors.'”
“This is a familiar stand for Mr. Whitehouse, who has long tried to silence his political opponents,” the editorial concluded. more
From Rhode Island?
Say it ain’t so….
So Whitehouse won’t be planning on living in the White House?
Yes, but he has the lefty version of Diplomatic Immunity–Democratic Immunity.
Well Roberts is a progressive! What did you expect?