As the Supreme Court prepares to hamstring abortion rights in a historic push back of Roe v. Wade , it ’s deserving remembering that American industries , via campaign part to the political leader that vote in Court justness , are partly responsible forthis mess . Data comparing oil and accelerator pedal donation to senators since 2016 with those senators ’ voting records shows a strong relationship between politicians who created the Court ’s button-down supermajority and those who take money from Big Oil .
All of the 16 current sitting senator who have received more than $ 500,000 in run donations from the fossil oil and gas industry have vote to approve at least one conservative justice during their tenure , with 13 of those top recipient vote to approve at least three justices . ( The “ conservative ” justices on this listing are Samuel Alito , Clarence Thomas , Amy Coney Barrett , Brett Kavanaugh , and Neil Gorsuch ; John Roberts , though he was nominate by a Republican chairwoman and often side with the conservative majority , is turf out from this list since he is seen as more of a moderate . ) In dividing line , none of the 25 senators who have get less than $ 50,000 in part from the industriousness over that same timeframe have voted to approve a conservative DoJ during their tenure .
The data was compile byEarth Uprising , a mood - focused youth organization , and was sourced off of federal campaign contribution entropy for the oil and gasolene industrypublished on the website OpenSecretsas well as thevoting recordsof current U.S. senators in Supreme Court nominations . The name at the top of the list should n’t storm most people who have been pay attention to American government , but it ’s a good exemplification of how money from a powerful industriousness with a deep kinship with the GOP can shape politics and policies outside its wheelhouse .
Protesters outside the Supreme Court on 19 February 2025.Photo: Jose Luis Magana (AP)
The industry has handsomely rewarded some of the newer phallus of the Senate — many of whom have consistently voted in favor of the three most recent justices , Gorsuch , Kavanaugh , and Barrett , who were all put up during the Trump administration and who pushed the Court ’s cautious makeup into a supermajority . At the top of the inclination of bestower recipients is everyone ’s favorite boastful son Ted Cruz of Texas , who has gotten a handsome $ 2,830,623 from the oil and gas industriousness since 2016 ; the oil and gas industry is hisfifth - most fecund industry safari donorover the course of his career , and he has a perfect voting record in favor of conservative Justice Department during his clip in the Senate . Other oil - and - gas - well-disposed senators who have vote for every constitute buttoned-down justice admit Texas ’s John Cornyn ( $ 1,502,701 in oil and gas money since 2016 ) ; Florida ’s Marco Rubio ( $ 942,171 ) ; Louisiana ’s John Kennedy ( $ 920,720 ) ; Oklahoma ’s James Lankford ( $ 724,931 ) ; and Wyoming ’s John Barrasso ( $ 650,232 ) , just to name a few .
It ’s important to note that vegetable oil and gas money does n’t always correlate with politician giving carte du jour blanche to cautious justices . Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski , for instance , famouslyvoted againstKavanaugh ’s nominating address in 2018 , breaking her streak of vote in conservative justices since she took role in 2002 ; the industry has give her $ 942,171 since 2016 . And while West Virginia Democrat ( and current industriousness errand boy ) Joe Manchin , who ’s get $ 894,002 in fossil oil and accelerator pedal money during that time , voted for Gorsuch and Kavanaugh , he take a outdoor stage in 2020 to voteagainst Barrett ’s nomination . ( Always singular when that guy chooses to take the moral mellow ground . ) Meanwhile , Richard Shelby of Alabama has voted to support four button-down Department of Justice over the trend of his career , but has gotten less than $ 60,000 from the diligence since 2016 .
Only two senators , Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky , have been in for all five sitting conservative Justice Department , start out way back in 1991 with Clarence Thomas ’s nomination . While the industry has pitched in a healthy $ 183,622 to Grassley , that ’s lowly compare to the $ 748,000 McConnell got between 2016 and 2022 .
The materialistic politicians who have helped signalise the destruction imprimatur for miscarriage access — andpossibly for LGBTQ right and other generative rightslike access to parturition control — have been propped up by self-aggrandising Oil money . So much for all thosewomen ’s initiativesandPride month PR stunts .
Amy Coney BarrettJoe ManchinLaw , CrimeMarco RubioMitch McConnellTime 100
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