Judicial Crisis Network spending $1M more attacking Vanita Gupta’s nomination to Justice Department

The conservative Judicial Crisis Network said Tuesday it is spending $1 million more attacking Vanita Gupta, President Biden’s nominee for associate attorney general. 

As the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on Ms. Gupta’s nomination, the Judicial Crisis Network is expanding its ad blitz against her. Previously, the conservative advocacy group said it was spending $800,000 on ads opposing her nomination. 

“Joe Biden’s pick to help lead the Justice Department, Vanita Gupta, ran the Leadership Conference Education Fund, receiving tens of millions from labor unions, liberal dark money pools and extreme left billionaires,” said a narrator in the new 30-second ad. “What were they buying? Gupta’s dark money assault on the Supreme Court, trying to stack the court in their favor, opposing excellent justices, pushing a radical far-left agenda. They got their money’s worth then. Imagine what Gupta will do for them with real power.”

The term “dark money” refers to the funding for groups that are not required to disclose their donors, which also includes the Judicial Crisis Network. Ms. Gupta took leave as head of the liberal group, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and its sister organization the Education Fund in January, according to the conference. 

Her nomination has drawn sharp criticism from conservatives but it has also attracted others on the political right who prioritize criminal justice reform. Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist wrote in his personal capacity to the judiciary committee in support of Ms. Gupta’s nomination, which was utilized by the anti-Trump group Defending Democracy Together in its own $1 milllion campaign pushing for Ms. Gupta’s confirmation.

The Judicial Crisis Network’s spending against Ms. Gupta is part of a larger conservative coalition that is fighting Mr. Biden’s nominees and coordinating their resources. Other conservative groups in the coalition include Heritage Action for America and Americans for Public Trust.