With Daniel Lippman FIRST IN PI — UNDER THE HOOD AT DEMAND JUSTICE: The liberal judicial advocacy group Demand Justice and its charitable arm Demand Justice Initiative brought in nearly $9 million last year between the two, according to tax filings shared exclusively with PI and POLITICO's Hailey Fuchs. — The two filings offer the most comprehensive look yet at the inner workings of the nonprofits, which last year spun out from under the umbrella of one of the most deep-pocketed dark money networks on the left . Demand Justice launched in 2018 intending to serve as a counterweight to well-financed conservative judicial advocacy groups like the Federalist Society and the Judicial Crisis Network. — The group has emerged as a bombastic advocate for a variety of judicial reforms. Last year, it pushed hard for an expansion of the Supreme Court — and abolishing the filibuster to do it — and backed legislation on voting rights and for increased transparency and ethics guardrails for the judicial branch while working to develop a diverse pipeline for judicial nominees. This year, it pledged to spend at least $1 million backing President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. — But because Demand Justice launched as an arm of the liberal dark money behemoth Sixteen Thirty Fund, donors to the group had been allowed to shield their contributions, already able to remain anonymous, behind the larger network, and Demand Justice was not required to file separate tax returns detailing its fundraising and spending until this year. — Demand Justice, which is organized as a 501(c)4 nonprofit, raised more than $5.9 million between May 5 and the end of the year, according to its filing — all of which came from five anonymous donors. The haul comprised three seven-figure gifts, with two donors giving around $2 million each. Tax filings from Sixteen Thirty Fund this year indicate that it was behind one of those. — The filing also sheds light on the group’s leadership structure and expenditures, including how its leaders were compensated. Democratic strategist Brian Fallon, who co-founded Demand Justice and serves as its executive director, earned $159,000, the filing shows, while Christopher Kang, another co-founder who serves as chief counsel, earned around $165,000. Arkadi Gerney, Adam Jentleson and Lori Lodes, who are listed as a chairperson and board members, respectively, didn’t report any income from Demand Justice while a third board member Elie Mystal reported $2,000 in income from the group. — Demand Justice’s advocacy arm gave out just one grant last year, according to its filings: $25,000 to the annual progressive gathering Netroots Nation. But Demand Justice Initiative doled out 10 times that to The Fairness Project, a progressive nonprofit that advocates for ballot measures around the country. Demand Justice reported spending millions of dollars between its two arms on a variety of activities including grassroots organizing to support legislation and training programs for aspiring judicial candidates. Happy Friday and welcome to PI. Send K Street tips and invites to the Red Sox or UGA renditions of this group: coprysko@politico.com . And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko . PENCILS DOWN: House Democrats are rushing to wrap up an assortment of probes before they’re shunted to the minority, and the Oversight Committee today finally unveiled its findings from the panel’s investigation into efforts by the fossil fuels industry and its allies to influence policies and public opinion related to climate change. — The probe found that “some of the world’s major oil companies remain internally skeptical about the ‘energy transition’ to a low-carbon economy, even as they publicly portray their firms as partners in the cause, ” The Washington Post’s Steven Mufson reports. Documents obtained by the committee, which included internal emails, “describe ExxonMobil’s efforts in 2021 to persuade big industrial firms and oil giants to co-sponsor a mammoth carbon capture project in Texas.” — “Elsewhere, in one email string, officials at one company discuss whether BP, Shell and TotalEnergies — a French oil firm — increased their carbon footprints by selling Canadian oil sands interests to other eager investors.” — “For more than a year, the committee has been investigating a handful of major oil companies, along with two of the biggest trade groups in Washington, the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.” — “The committee says the industry is misleading the public by advertising a commitment to cleaner energy even as it disproportionately invests in fossil fuels. In a previous release of documents on Sept. 14, the committee accused oil companies of continued deception, following previous revelations about oil companies working to undermine the credibility of climate science .” — “Oil company officials rejected claims they are misleading the public. Todd Spitler, ExxonMobil’s senior adviser for media relations and government affairs, said the committee ‘has sought to misrepresent ExxonMobil’s position on climate science, and its support for effective policy solutions, by recasting well intended, internal policy debates as an attempted company disinformation campaign.’ Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said the 14-month investigation ‘failed on all fronts to uncover evidence of a climate disinformation campaign.’” SPEAKING OF JUDICIAL REFORM: “House Democrats blasted the Supreme Court over alleged ethical lapses on Thursday, mounting a hearing that showcased a religious-right lobbying campaign aimed at the justices and claims of an alleged leak from the court of a key decision in 2014,” per Josh Gerstein. — “At a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, a former evangelical minister who organized the lobbying effort, the Rev. Robert Schenck, detailed his efforts to deploy wealthy social conservatives as ‘stealth missionaries’ to befriend conservative justices.” — “House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said disclosures in news outlets, including POLITICO , about a lobbying drive targeting the justices have cast doubt on how the Supreme Court arrived at its earthshaking decision in June that overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion.” — “Nadler and other Democratic members said Schenck’s account underscored the need to pass legislation imposing a binding ethics code on the Supreme Court,” but “a lawyer and former Supreme Court clerk called as a GOP witness … blasted Schenck as a ‘con man’ and argued he should not be trusted because of his public admissions that he lied at times during his lobbying drive.” HOSPITALS ASK FOR A LIFELINE FOR URBAN MEMBERS: “The American Hospital Association is lobbying Congress to create a new designation for hospitals that provide an above-average amount of Medicaid and uncompensated care in a bid to boost those facilities’ flagging finances ,” POLITICO’s Daniel Payne reports. — “The hospitals want facilities designated Metropolitan Anchor Hospitals to be recognized as essential, likely to eventually get increased reimbursements from the government. ‘Given the financial struggle that virtually the entire hospital field is facing right now, we thought it was important to start this dialogue now to make sure that Congress was aware of our ongoing effort to try and create a designation,’ said Aimee Kuhlman, AHA’s vice president of federal relations. ‘[We] fully appreciate that this is an effort that will likely continue on into the next Congress.’” — “It’s part of a larger effort to get more money for urban hospitals that may be struggling financially, with proponents pointing to recent hospital closures in urban areas that could have benefited from a similar program: Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center in Cleveland. Still, some hospitals thrived through the Covid-19 pandemic, reporting larger profit margins and financial stability as lobbyists sounded the alarm.” — “Though there are few indications that the new designation will be included in an omnibus package, the hospital association hopes that by laying the groundwork now, it can advance it in the new Congress.”
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