RAPHAEL IS A FUCKING SLUMLORD!
Judge Protecting Raphael Warnock's Old Charity From Legal Trouble Has Warnock Himself To Thank for Her Job
The federal judge shielding the Georgia voter registration group once helmed by Democratic senator Raphael Warnock from legal trouble owes her spot on the bench to none other than Warnock, who led the charge to get the Biden administration to nominate her for the lifetime judicial position.
District Judge Victoria Calvert in December 2022 blocked the Georgia attorney general's efforts to charge the New Georgia Project with illegally aiding Democrat Stacey Abrams’s failed 2018 gubernatorial campaign while Warnock was the group's chairman. It was Warnock who urged President Joe Biden to nominate Calvert to the District Court of Northern Georgia in September 2021. The Senate confirmed Calvert to the lifetime post in March 2022.
Calling Calvert’s move an "attempt to circumvent the rule of law" that "serves only to undermine transparency in our elections," Georgia attorney general Chris Carr (R.) filed an appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on March 8 demanding it reverse the judge’s decision so he can resume enforcement proceedings against the group.
"New Georgia Project spent millions of dollars in express political advocacy, fought state investigators for years to avoid disclosing any information, and then rushed to federal court to stop this civil proceeding entirely," Carr said in a statement. "We are filing this appeal to ensure that our state statute is upheld and Georgia’s ongoing proceeding is protected."
Calvert’s intervention in the case against the charity once led by her chief benefactor in the Senate raises serious conflict of interest concerns. It also comes as the New Georgia Project faces a separate investigation by Georgia’s secretary of state, which began probing the group’s "financial irregularities" following several Washington Free Beacon reports on alleged financial mismanagement by former New Georgia Project executives.
The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission launched its legal battle against the New Georgia Project in September 2019. As part of its investigation, the state authorities issued subpoenas against the charity that revealed it had failed to disclose over $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in expenditures during the 2018 elections.
The commission passed the case off to Carr’s office in August 2022 after ruling that New Georgia Project likely violated state law by failing to report its political expenditures. New Georgia Project countered the allegations in an appeal to the District Court of Northern Georgia, saying they were exempted from disclosing their financial efforts to help elect Abrams because it spent millions more on other non-election related activities.
Calvert ultimately ruled in favor of New Georgia Project in December 2022, granting their motion to enjoin Georgia authorities from enforcing state campaign finance law in part because the charity’s free speech rights were at stake.
Dems Punt Confirmation Vote on Embattled Biden Judicial Nominee
Vote on Michael Delaney's nomination canceled as Dems struggle with sidelined senators
Senate Democrats punted late Tuesday evening on a confirmation hearing for President Joe Biden's judicial nominee Michael Delaney, who has faced an onslaught of criticism for his successful push to unmask an underage sexual assault victim.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) canceled a committee hearing set for Thursday at which Delaney's nomination was slated as the top agenda item, according to an updated committee schedule. Sources say the hearing was canceled on Tuesday evening. The cancellation means no Judiciary Committee business will be done this week, leaving Delaney's nomination to the First Circuit in limbo.
Nominated in January, Delaney has become one of Biden's most controversial nominees. Delaney faces opposition from Republicans and women's rights advocates for motioning to strip a minor sexual assault victim of anonymity while he served as an attorney for New Hampshire's St. Paul's School. The victim, Chessy Prout, and her family have vocally opposed his nomination.
But with two Democratic senators, including California's Dianne Feinstein, who is on the Judiciary Committee and has raised concerns about Delaney's nomination, recovering from illness, Senate Judiciary work has ground to a halt. Democrats only hold a one-seat majority on the committee, and Republicans appear unified in voting down Delaney.
Three left-wing groups filed a memo over the weekend expressing their "grave concerns" about Delaney's nomination. The National Women's Law Center, People for the American Way, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights called on senators to "further examine" Delaney's record.
"With continued efforts in the courts to narrow and overturn fundamental and civil rights, we must ensure only nominees who understand the impact of the law on and the need to protect the rights of women, girls, people of color, LGBTQI+ people, pregnant and parenting individuals, and other communities marginalized in our society are confirmed to the federal bench," the groups said. "At a time when survivors are shamed for exercising their civil rights to be free from sex discrimination in education, it is essential that we call out the actions of those in power who seek to minimize the trauma, needs, and lived experiences of survivors."
New Hampshire Democratic senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen are leading the fight to confirm Delaney. The pair have praised his record on multiple occasions and in January introduced him to the Senate Judiciary Committee, lauding his "commitment to justice."
Members of the Prout family, who have appeared at every Judiciary Committee meeting since the president nominated Delaney, have worked tirelessly to kill his nomination. In a Saturday statement, Chessy Prout's father said that "Delaney used the 'totality of his career,' his accumulated knowledge of victim trauma, and weaponized that knowledge and experience to intimidate a minor victim of sexual assault into silence." Earlier this month, Chessy Prout wrote an op-ed earlier this month titled "I know Michael Delaney. After what he did, he doesn't deserve to be a judge."
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