A notable conservative federal judge on Thursday made a rare decision to call out a sitting senator at a Washington, D.C., event hosted by the Federalist Society, accusing Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) of peddling a “myth” about dark money groups reshaping the federal judiciary.
Chief U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, made the remarks at the conservative Federalist Society’s annual attorneys convention at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., which is also celebrating the group’s 40th anniversary.
Officials with the Federalist Society advised former President Donald Trump‘s judicial nominees during his term in office between 2017 and 2021, and numerous Trump appointees were members of the group. Still, Pryor poked at critics who claim the organization operates in the “shadows” to reshape the federal judiciary.
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“Little did I know that millions of American voters, that the past president of the United States and the United States senators only provided camouflage for the real operation,” Pryor said, prompting laughs by some attendees at the three-day ticketed event.
The appeals court judge hit out at claims by Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who often presents informational poster boards during hearings to make allegations about “dark money” groups working together to get their preferred nominees seated on federal benches, referring to funds raised by undisclosed donors.
HAPPENING NOW: 11th Cir Judge Bill Pryor opens Federalist Society conference in DC by mocking @SenWhitehouse and poking fun at claims that Leonard Leo is at center of a dark money web pic.twitter.com/lYEE8pRQvB
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) November 10, 2022
Pryor, who was on Trump’s Supreme Court list, also mocked members of the media that cover courts and legal news, presenting a PowerPoint with an image of the Death Star from “Star Wars” with the group’s logo plastered onto it.
“If you’re new to the Federalist Society or find its mission statement obscure, worry not, one of the great journalists of our time at a venerable institution for investigative journalism — I speak, of course, of Joe Patrice at Above the Law,” Pryor said of the outlet in a sarcastic tone, referring to several articles by Patrice that Pryor implied painted the 60,000-member organization in a negative way.
The Federalist Society’s longtime vice president and current co-chairman of the board of directors, Leonard Leo, was involved with compiling a list of potential Supreme Court nominees when Trump assumed office, which led to the eventual confirmations of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett and formed the court’s 6-3 conservative majority.
“Are there members of the Federalist Society who are involved in that process? Of course. But with that, so what? That’s politics,” said Pryor.
Whitehouse notably targeted Barrett’s 2020 nomination when he presented a detailed chart of dark money organizations pushing for her confirmation. The Democratic senator has faced pushback from some GOP members of the committee, including Sen. Ted Cruz, who accused Whitehouse in March 2021 of bringing dark money experts to testify to Congress despite the experts being backed by dark money as well.
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Utah Sen. Mike Lee, during the hearing, said that Whitehouse’s concerns with dark money often appear to ring false due to his emphasis on dark money stemming from conservative organizations.
“If you don’t like dark money, that’s one thing,” Lee said. “If you like it, own it where you take it. But this middle ground of trying to suggest it’s holy, that it’s righteous if it’s in support of a liberal cause, that doesn’t sit well with most people.”
