John,

April started off with CREW Chief Counsel Donald Sherman testifying before Congress—and it ended that way as well. This time, Donald testified about the urgent need for judicial ethics reform before the House Judiciary Committee. In light of Clarence Thomas failing to recuse from cases involving the insurrection and efforts to overturn the 2020 election—despite his wife Ginni Thomas’s deep involvement in those efforts—as well as recent reporting about 131 federal judges participating in cases in which they had a financial interest in one of the parties, it’s clear that judicial ethics reform is long overdue. Read Donald’s testimony here—and watch him speak about why the impartiality of the judiciary matters in this clip.>>

CREW also recently released an important report about the IRS’s long-running failure to enforce the laws around political activity by 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit groups, what we usually refer to as “dark money.” 501(c)(4)s are some of the biggest sources of secret money in our elections, and they’ve exploded in the last decade. But despite the fact that some groups report different information to the IRS and the FEC about how much money they’re spending on political activities, or even spend the vast majority of their budget on politics—which should lead to them losing their tax-exempt status—the IRS too often fails to act. We’ve outlined some of the most egregious examples in our new report, including the NRA and a group that helped funnel money to Senator Lindsey Graham’s 2016 presidential campaign.

And last week, Rep. Andy Kim and I wrote an op-ed in the Hill about the urgent need for Congress to ban members from trading and owning stocks. Congressional stock trading undermines faith in Congress, it’s popular with bipartisan majorities of Americans, and members of Congress from both parties are on board with the proposals currently being considered. We need a strong Congressional stock ban and we need it now.

April was a busy month at CREW, and the months ahead promise to be no different—no matter what it takes, we’ll continue fighting for an ethical, accountable, transparent democracy. From banning Congressional stock ownership, to judicial ethics reform, to fighting dark money, to accountability for the insurrection—we’re committed to this fight for the long haul.

If you’re able, please consider contributing to support CREW’s work, now and in the future. We’re able to do all our legal, policy, and research work thanks to supporters like you, who have stepped up time and again. Thank you.

Noah Bookbinder
President, CREW

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