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Now, let's be clear about what the Judgment Fund is supposed to do. It was originally created back in 1956 to efficiently pay out legal judgments against the federal government. There was a time when Congress actually acted like Congress and exercised some control over these funds. There was a cap of $100,000 on settlements that required congressional oversight for anything higheran excellent system of checks and balances, in the spirit of the founders' intent. But in 1977, Congress decided to hand the Justice Department a blank check, removing the cap entirely and allowing this fund to pay out whatever it pleased, without needing any kind of Congressional approval. And what happens when you give a government agency unchecked authority over taxpayer money? The fund turned into a slush fund, plain and simple.
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Tony West, the brother-in-law of Vice President Kamala Harris, spearheaded a new way to distribute funds from this unmonitored money pot. Emails revealed how his department was actively seeking out ways to funnel cash to favored nonprofits and NGOs, a wish list for loyal Democratic allies. Instead of going to legitimate claimants, settlements started being diverted to politically aligned lawyers and organizations, with many of these cases settled just as the government was about to win them outright. Convenient, isn't it? The payoffs were enormoussometimes reaching billions of dollarswith those politically-aligned lawyers raking in hundreds of millions in fees.
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This sordid tradition of using the Justice Department for political ends continued unabated into Biden's term, extending beyond financial settlements to significantly impact policy. For example, Biden used the slush fund to pay off the ACLU and their lawyers, who sued on behalf of illegal border crossers detained with minors. The resulting settlement not only prevented Biden from arresting and detaining any illegal alien caught smuggling a minor across the border but also prohibited all future presidents from doing so for the next eight years. If left unchallenged, this settlement would prevent President Trump or any future administration from arresting illegal border crossers as long as they bring children.
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Contrast this with President Trump's approach, where his Attorney General banned settlement slush funds outright, effectively stopping the misuse of the Judgment Fund for political purposes. This was one of the early, underreported successes of the Trump administration, closing off a major channel of political financing for the left. Predictably, Biden reversed this ban immediately upon taking office, turning the fund back into an unrestricted resource for the Democratic Party's preferred projects and allies.
Take, for instance, the 2016 settlement with Volkswagen. The DOJ imposed a requirement that Volkswagen fund a $2 billion White House electric vehicle initiativean initiative that Congress had explicitly rejected. The DOJ basically said, "We don't care what Congress thinks; we're doing it anyway." And then there was the billion-dollar payout pursued by the Biden DOJ in 2021 for illegal immigrants claiming emotional distressa payout that was scrapped only after it sparked public outrage. Even then, the ACLU's lawyers still managed to cash in on attorneys' fees. Or look at the recent $2 million handed over to FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page for releasing anti-Trump texts on government-issued phones. What exactly is the reasoning here, aside from Biden's desire to take care of two of his loyal anti-Trump warriors?
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Experts now estimate that the Judgment Fund will pay out over $10 billion this year alone to Democratic-aligned groups and their loyal lawyers. And this isn't just speculationthe Government Accountability Office has consistently pointed out the opacity of the system. Billions of dollars vanish every year, and there's not even a hint of oversight. No one knows how many claims the federal government processes, who benefits, or even the specific facts behind these settlements.
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