WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), alleging that Royce White, U.S. Senate candidate from Minnesota, had reportedly misappropriated over $157,000 worth of funds from his 2022 congressional campaign for personal expenses, and has failed to report to the FEC how his 2024 Senate campaign is spending its money, depriving voters of this critical information they are entitled to have when deciding how to vote.  

The misappropriation and misreporting of campaign funds by Royce White’s campaigns appear to constitute knowing and willful violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act’s (or “FECA”) bedrock requirements that not only prohibit candidates from using campaign funds to pay for their personal expenses, but also require them to regularly file accurate reports with the FEC disclosing any contributions received and disbursements made in support of their candidacy.  

Saurav Ghosh, CLC’s director of federal campaign finance reform, said, “Transparency about how candidates are spending their campaign funds allows voters to make informed choices when voting, and helps ensure that candidates are held accountable if they unlawfully use donors’ money to pay for their personal expenses. Royce White appears to have brazenly violated the federal laws that foster transparency and accountability in our elections, by first using his 2022 campaign’s account to pay for personal expenses—including clothing, fitness, and entertainment charges, along with siphoning off a six-figure sum through checks and wire transfers—and then wholly failing to report his 2024 Senate campaign’s disbursements. It is imperative that the FEC investigate these apparent violations of the campaign finance laws that safeguard our elections from financial malfeasance.”

Despite the bid falling short, funds from Royce White’s 2022 congressional campaign were used to pay over $157,000 in personal expenses – from clothes, cosmetics, and night clubs to opaque checks and wire transfers. Now, amid his current campaign for U.S. Senator, Royce White’s Senate campaign has reported receiving $8,100 in contributions, but reported only one disbursement of just $216.38 for a credit card processing fee. Although it appears White’s Senate campaign has spent additional sums in support of his candidacy, the campaign has failed to report any such spending.  

Voters have a right to factual and timely reporting from campaigns on any money raised and spent in their favor before an election, and to rest assured that candidates are not spending donors’ money to pay their personal expenses. The FEC must investigate what appears to be clear violations of federal campaign finance law by Royce White and his 2022 and 2024 campaigns. 

Earlier this year, the Judicial Conference of the United States indicated that it was likely conducting an ethics review of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for potentially violating the Ethics in Government Act (EIGA). This was an unusual, but promising move, given that this is one of the only entities that can enforce ethics laws against Supreme Court justices.
  
But nearly three months have passed since the Judicial Conference’s March 2024 convening, and no information from this meeting – which would have included updates on a possible ethics review into Justice Thomas – has been made public, prompting Campaign Legal Center’s (CLC) Ethics team to write another letter requesting that the entity provide a timely update on this matter.
 
CLC’s Danielle Caputo writes in a new blog on this letter that: “Under EIGA, the Judicial Conference is in a unique position, as it is tasked with determining whether there is reasonable cause to believe that Justice Thomas knowingly and willfully withheld information on his financial disclosure statements.
  
If the Judicial Conference determines that there is reasonable cause to believe, then it has a responsibility to refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney General. This is one way to provide meaningful accountability for the ethical violations of a Supreme Court justice. Failure to do so would further harm public confidence in the judiciary.”
 
Read the full blog here. 
 

Washington, DC — Today, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito sent two letters to Congress, refusing to recuse himself from cases related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. These letters were issued in response to widespread calls for Alito to recuse himself from these cases amid controversy surrounding actions undertaken by his wife that indicated his family may hold bias in these matters. Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel and senior director for ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, issued the following statement:

“Justice Alito's public statement, on its face, seems to be a step toward more Supreme Court transparency, but instead, it reveals the truth that justices decide for themselves if recusal is reasonable.

“Those familiar with the Court's ethics code know that it creates an exception that swallows the rule by instructing justices themselves to interpret the recusal requirement ‘narrowly.’ The Court can no longer pretend that, without an enforceable ethics code and an internal ethics office, it can resolve the public's concern with its questionable ethics.”

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a unanimous federal three-judge court ruling that had ordered the redrawing of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District for discriminating against Black voters. Oral argument in the case, Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of NAACP, took place in October 2023. 

Following the decision, Annabelle Harless, director of redistricting litigation at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, released the following statement:

“Today’s ruling is a disappointment — and an affront to Black voters who have, for far too long, endured racial discrimination in voting.

"Not only does today’s decision harm Black South Carolinians, but it also makes it more difficult to fight back against racial gerrymandering, which is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. In doing so, this decision allows the cloak of partisan gerrymandering to excuse discrimination against Black voters.  

"We will continue to work tirelessly with our partners on the ground and across the space to fight back against racial discrimination in voting maps.”

Background: In early 2023, a federal district court three-judge panel struck down South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, finding that the state Legislature had set an impermissible racial target for the district and removed thousands of Black voters from the district in order to meet it. The court held that the district was designed to “bleach” the voting strength of the Black community in the Charleston area.  

Campaign Legal Center has been involved in several lawsuits challenging racial gerrymandering in voting maps. In August 2023, Campaign Legal Center joined a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and other voting rights organizations urging the Supreme Court to uphold the lower court’s ruling and avoid weakening the protections against racial gerrymandering enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.