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The '''Judicial Crisis Network''' (JCN, formerly the Judicial Confirmation Network) is an advocacy organization that advances a right-wing legal agenda and uses undisclosed dark money "issue ads" to influence state and federal judicial appointments and elections. JCN also directs millions in funding to other dark money groups such as [[Wisconsin Club for Growth]] and [[American Future Fund]] that spend large amounts in state-level Supreme Court and Attorney General races, as well as other down-ticket races.<ref name="open secrets jcn"/><ref name=LRB>Laila Robbins [https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/conservative-group-behind-kavanaugh-confirmation-has-spent-years-reshaping-state-and-federal Conservative Group Behind Kavanaugh Confirmation Has Spent Years Reshaping State and Federal Benches] Brennan Center for Justice, Sept 12. 2018</ref>
JCN is registered with the IRS as a [[501(c)(4)]] nonprofit. It was founded in 2004 to promote then-President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees.<ref name=LRB/> According to a Brennan Center for Justice report, JCN is a "dark money group."<ref>Alicia Bannon, Cathleen Lisk, Peter Hardin, Douglas Keith, Laila Robbins, Eric Velasco, Denise Roth Barber, and Linda Casey [https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Politics_of_Judicial_Elections_Final.pdf Who Pays forJudicial Races?] The Brennan Center for Justice, 2016</ref>As of September 2018, JCN had spent more than $20 million on efforts to block former-President Obama's nominees and support President Trump's.<ref name=LRB/> JCN does not disclose its funders, but all . All of its reported revenue in 2012 and 2013 came from large contributions of more than $10,000, and contributions of more than $1 million providing more than 80 percent of JCN's total revenue in both years.
==Founding and History==
===Support of Brett Kavanaugh===
The Judicial Crisis Network, as of July 23, 2018, has spent $5.3 million dollars to replace Justice Kennedy following his retirement, more than it announced it was going to.<ref>Julie Bykowicz [https://www.wsj.com/articles/outside-groups-plan-costly-campaigns-foror-againstsupreme-court-nominee-1531172391 Outside Groups Plan Costly Campaigns for—or Against—Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh] ''The Wall Street Journal'' July 9, 2018</ref> The organization has set up the website confirmkavanaugh.com and bought two ads.<ref> Judicial Crisis Network [https://judicialnetwork$3.com/in-the-news/judicial-crisis-network-releases-second-ad-in-confirm-kavanaugh-campaign-another-1-4-million-ad-buy/ Judicial Crisis Network Releases Second Ad in Confirm Kavanaugh Campaignof that has gone to TV ads, as of July 2018, targeting (money spent per state) North Dakota ($673,060), Indiana ($509,250), another West Virginia ($1.4 Million Ad Buy] Press Release449, JULY 16380), 2018</ref>and Alabama ($257,150). JCN has said that it is prepared to spend $10 million or more on Kavanaugh's confirmation.<ref name=AxiosKWAPO/>
One of the ads is focused on pressuring Democrats from areas which tend to vote conservatively to support Kavanaugh's confirmation, claiming that those Democrats are "taking marching orders" from liberals, such as the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer.<ref name=Axios>Jonathan Swan, Laura Mier [https://www.axios.com/judicial-crisis-network-ad-campaign-brett-kavanaugh-947a4eb9-97a1-4ce8-9dca-bc9747b61ae0.html Inside the Seven Figure Campaign for Brett Kavanaugh] Axios, July 23 2018</ref>
Following the accusation from a California professor that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school,<ref>Emma Brown [https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/california-professor-writer-of-confidential-brett-kavanaugh-letter-speaks-out-about-her-allegation-of-sexual-assault/2018/09/16/46982194-b846-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html?utm_term=.58c68ff7fd47 California professor, writer of confidential Brett Kavanaugh letter, speaks out about her allegation of sexual assault] The Washington Post, Sept. 16 2018</ref> JCN re-upped their support for the nominee. "We are not going to allow a last-minute smear campaign destroy a good and decent man who has an unblemished personal record,” the organization said in a statement.<ref name=KWAPO>Michelle Ye Hee Lee [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/groups-launch-ad-campaigns-in-wake-of-kavanaugh-allegations/2018/09/17/dbf0cb02-baa2-11e8-9812-a389be6690af_story.html?utm_term=.edff7550c7d3 Groups launch ad campaigns in wake of Kavanaugh allegations] ''The Washington Post''' Sept. 17 2018</ref>
===Support of Neil Gorsuch===
===JCN Spending Targets State Supreme Courts and AG Races===
JCN's political spending in recent years has targeted state-level Supreme Court and Attorney General races. Spending described below includes millions of dollars spent on "issue ads," which aim to influence elections but which skirt donor disclosure laws, and on funding other non-profits that ran issue ads. JCN has also reported to the FEC some direct spending on electioneering, and has contributed significant amounts to other organizations that reported election spending.
===State Supreme Court Races in 2016 Election Cycle===
JCN spent more than $2 million related to Michigan court races in 2012, including $1 million on television ads for a single state circuit court race, according to an estimate by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.<ref name="open secrets jcn"/><ref>Michigan Campaign Finance Network, "[http://www.mcfn.org/pdfs/reports/MCFN_2012_Cit_Guide_final_rev..pdf Descending into Dark Money]," research report, June 2013.</ref>
In Wisconsin, JCN gave $503,000 to [[Wisconsin Club for Growth]] (WCFG) between 2012 and 2013. WCFG has been one of the top spenders in state Supreme Court races, sometimes spending more than the candidates themselves.<ref>Brendan Fischer, "[https://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/02/12389/new-challenge-john-doe-raises-questions-judicial-ethics Supreme Court Challenge to WI Dark Money Probe Raises Questions of Judicial Ethics]," Center for Media and Democracy, ''PR Watch'', February 19, 2014.</ref><ref name=LRB/> It also spent $9.1 million during the Wisconsin's historic 2012 recall races for Governor, Lt. Governor and State Senate, and was tied to a long-running investigation into possibly possible illegal campaign coordination, which was ended by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2015.<ref>Brendan Fischer, "[https://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/07/12887/five-things-know-about-scott-walker-john-doe-ruling Five Things to Know About the Scott Walker John Doe Ruling]," Center for Media and Democracy, ''PR Watch'', July 16, 2015.</ref> (WCFG also received $400,000 from the [[Wellspring Committee]] in 2011.)<ref name="open secrets jcn"/>
JCN had $750,000 in attributable spending in the 2012 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics ($750,000 of contributions JCN made to another group or groups was reportable to the FEC as political spending).<ref name="jcn outside spending"/>
According to the Brennan Center, "JCN spent between $600,000 and $1 million on an ad alleging that law professor Bridget McCormack 'volunteered to free a terrorist,' to which the ''New York Times'' responded: 'She didn’t.'"<ref name=LRB/>
===2010 Election Cycle===
Ann Corkery, who is married to Neil, was influential in forming JCN and has played a key role in its funding and spending. She is the President of the [[Wellspring Committee]], an organization that ''Open Secrets'' characterizes as a "dark money machine"<ref name="open secrets jcn"/> which is "little more than [a] UPS mailbox" that cloaks donors' identities by serving as a conduit for contributions to other politically active nonprofits.<ref name="wellsprings flow"/>
In 2016, "Wellspring received 90 percent of its revenue, nearly $28.5 million, from a single anonymous donor" <ref name=LRB/> and then in proceed to give a grant to the Judicial Crisis Network which amounted to 84 percent of its over 25 million dollars total revenue that year.<ref>Robert Maguire [https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/05/group-that-spent-millions-to-boost-gorsuch-also-paid-mysterious-inaugural-donor/ Group that spent millions to boost Gorsuch also paid mysterious inaugural donor] Center for Responsive Politics- Open Secrets, May 16 2018</ref>
In 2011, Ann Corkery replaced two of Wellspring's board members with her own daughter and a JCN board member's son. In 2012 and 2013, JCN received nearly $3 million from Wellspring.<ref name="open secrets jcn"/>
