Democrat Sen. Whitehouse Fails to Disclose Donor Relationship in Court Filing

Rhode Island senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D.) filed an amicus brief in court cases where cities and counties in California are suing major energy production companies for damages related to climate change, but did not disclose he had taken political donations from the attorneys who are conducting that litigation.

Currently, persons or agencies that file such briefs aren't required to make such disclosures. However, Whitehouse has been one of the leading advocates for exactly that kind of transparency.

"In a Jan. 4 letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, [Sen. Whitehouse] chided the Court for accepting amicus—friend of the court—briefs from ‘special interest groups that fail to disclose their donors,'" wrote the Wall Street Journal editorial board, which broke the news. "He calls out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as think tanks and policy shops that receive money from right-of-center foundations. Mr. Whitehouse claims these ‘repeat-player' filers are unduly influencing the Court, even as they hide their ‘deep-pocketed corporate contributors.'"

"This is a familiar stand for Mr. Whitehouse, who has long tried to silence his political opponents," the editorial concluded.

Victor Sher and Matt Edling are the two named partners of the law firm Sher Edling, which is bringing suits on behalf of the cities of San Francisco and Oakland and other governments such as Marin and Santa Cruz counties against oil producers such as Exxon, BP, and Shell.

Federal Election Commission records show Sher and Edling have given $6,400 and $1,000 to Whitehouse's political campaign committee, respectively, since 2016.

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