The 85 Fund

The Judicial Education Project (known legally since December 2019 as The 85 Fund[1][2]) is a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington D.C. Its Principal Officer is Carrie Severino, the President of the Judicial Crisis Network, with which it is closely affiliated.[3][4] It is closely connected with Leonard Leo, the vice-President of the Federalist Society.[2][5][6][4][7]

Funding

According to its IRS filings, between 2012 and 2017, the Judicial Education project claimed more than $46,000,000 dollars in total revenue.[8]

Judicial Education Project's 2017 tax returns disclosed a payment of $675,000 to the BH Group, the employer of Leonard Leo.[1][9]

In 2018, more than 99% of the Judicial Education Project’s funding came from a single $7.8m donation from DonorsTrust.[1][10]

In 2020, The 85 Fund received $20 million dollars in donations from DonorsTrust.[4]

Political activity

The Judicial Education Network donated $300,000 to the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative non-profit.[11]

In 2020, The 85 Fund provided $750,000 in funding to the Mercatus Center, a right-wing think tank affiliated with George Mason University.[4]

In 2020, The 85 Fund donated $1 million to the Accountability and Civics Trust Project, formerly run by Matthew Whitaker.[4][12] The Accountability and Civics Trust Project recently filed a complaint to the Office of Special Council to investigate Jennifer Granholm, the current Secretary of Energy.[4]

In 2020, The 85 Fund donated $2 million to the Government Accountability Institute, a group founded by former White House strategist Steve Bannon and investigator Peter Schweizer and currently chaired by Rebekah Mercer.[4]

Honest Elections Project

In April 2020, the Honest Elections Project, announced it was launching a week-long $250,000 digital and television ad campaign on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN against mail-in voting.[13]

Lawyers contracted by the Honest Elections Project have sent letters to the Secretaries of State in Colorado, Florida, and Michigan to lobby for purges of voter rolls in these states.[1][14][15][16] The Guardian reported that these letters used "misleading data to accuse jurisdictions of having bloated voter rolls" and threatened legal action.[1][17] The Honest Elections Project has filed legal briefs in favor of voting restrictions in Nevada, Virginia, Texas, and Minnesota.[1] Much of this legal activity was undertaken by William S. Consovoy, one of Donald Trump's personal attorneys.[1][18]

In 2020, The 85 Fund provided $70,000 in funding to the Honest Elections Project.[4]

In September 2020, the Honest Elections Project was involved in legal action concerning whether mail-in ballots that were postmarked before the election but arrived up to 14 days after it;[19] the suit was successful.[6][20]

The Honest Elections Project concluded that there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election and did not participate in any litigation to try to challenge or overturn the election results.[6] The Honest Elections Project issued a statement criticizing the 2021 United States Capitol attack that occurred on January 6, saying: "The violent insurrection at the Capitol was a heinous attack against democracy, the rule of law, and the election system HEP was created to defend.”[6]

In May 2021, the Honest Elections Project lobbied against H.R. 1, also known as the For the People Act.[21]

In 2021, the Executive Director of the Honest Elections project is Jason Snead.[22]

Current and Former officials

In 2020, the Principal Officer of the 85 Fund was Carrie Severino.[4] That year, Gary Marx, a senior advisor to the Judicial Crisis Network, was the president and treasurer of The 85 Fund.[4]

The former President of the Judicial Education Network was Neil Corkery.[23]

References
  1. "Revealed: conservative group fighting to restrict voting tied to powerful dark money network". the Guardian. 2020-05-27. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  2. Treene, Jonathan Swan,Alayna. "Leonard Leo to shape new conservative network, step aside from the Federalist Society". Axios. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  3. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/20-2466871
  4. Schwartz, Brian (2021-11-18). "Trump ally's fund received over $20 million last year, then funneled cash to other right-leaning groups". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  5. "Wealthy donors pour millions into fight over mail-in voting". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  6. Schwartz, Brian (2021-01-13). "Dark-money GOP fund funneled millions of dollars to groups that pushed voter fraud claims". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  7. Riccardi, Nicholas (March 2, 2021). "Conservative group pushes proposals to tighten voting laws". The AP.
  8. ProPublica, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Ken Schwencke, Brandon Roberts, Alec Glassford. "Judicial Education Project - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  9. NW, The Center for Responsive Politics 1300 L. St; Washington, Suite 200; info, DC 20005 telelphone857-0044 (2020-01-02). "Trump judicial adviser's 'dark money' network hides Supreme Court spending". OpenSecrets News. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  10. NW, The Center for Responsive Politics 1300 L. St; Washington, Suite 200; info, DC 20005 telelphone857-0044 (2020-05-27). "Conservative 'dark money' network rebranded to push voting restrictions before 2020 election". OpenSecrets News. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  11. NW, The Center for Responsive Politics 1300 L. St; Washington, Suite 200; info, DC 20005 telelphone857-0044 (2020-01-02). "Trump judicial adviser's 'dark money' network hides Supreme Court spending". OpenSecrets News. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  12. CNN, Scott Bronstein. "Whitaker ran conservative group funded by dark money". CNN. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  13. UTC, Leigh Ann Caldwell194d ago / 5:00 PM. "Conservative group to launch ads opposing mail-in voting". www.nbcnews.com. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  14. https://www.honestelections.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Colorado-Pre-litigation-Notice.pdf
  15. https://www.honestelections.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Florida-Pre-litigation-Notice.pdf
  16. https://www.honestelections.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Michigan-Pre-litigation-Notice.pdf
  17. "Calls for More Purges Rest on Shaky Data | Brennan Center for Justice". www.brennancenter.org. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  18. Marimow, Ann E. "Coming to Trump's defense: An unconventional lawyer for an unconventional president". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  19. Mauger, Craig. "Former GOP Michigan secretaries of state sue over plan to count late arriving ballots". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  20. Corse, Alexa (2020-10-17). "Michigan Court Rescinds 14-Day Extension for Receipt of Mail Ballots". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  21. Lejeune, Tristan (2021-03-23). "Conservative group says polling shows Democrats' voting rights bill 'out of sync with American voters'". TheHill. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  22. Corasaniti, Nick (2021-12-04). "Voting Battles of 2022 Take Shape as G.O.P. Crafts New Election Bills". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  23. A 501tax-exempt, OpenSecrets; NW, charitable organization 1300 L. St; Washington, Suite 200; info, DC 20005 telelphone857-0044 (2019-05-23). "An influential 'dark money' group turns off the lights for the last time". OpenSecrets News. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
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