George Soros is using his massive wealth to reshape the US justice system
REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
George Soros, the billionaire financier, is ponying up serious cash to reform the US criminal justice system.
Soros has pumped over $3 million into seven local district-attorney campaigns in six states in the past year, reports Politico.
Soros is pushing the money into local elections in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas through a network of state-level super PACs and a national "527" unlimited-money group, according to Politico.
The money has benefited African-American and Hispanic candidates who ran on progressive platforms like reducing racial disparities in sentencing, and directing drug offenders to diversion programs instead of to trial.
Electing reform-minded prosecutors is a major goal of progressive figures such as Soros. Prosecutors have "tremendous power" in how the law is interpreted, specifically when deciding what kind of sentences the state will pursue, John Pfaff, a professor of criminal law at Fordham University told The Atlantic in May.
And often, prosecutors in strongly partisan counties will run unopposed for many terms. This allows incumbents to wield enormous influence, and "lock in the criminal-justice status quo," David Rogers, the Oregon ACLU director wrote in a report investigating district-attorney elections.
Soros's efforts have shown some success in unseating incumbents. On Tuesday, a Soros-backed candidate, Aramis Ayala, handily defeated incumbent Jeff Ashton in a central Florida county that covers parts of Orlando.
Soros's group poured $975,000 into Ayala's campaign in August, compared to the $112,445 Ashton raised for his re-election, according to The Orlando Sentinel.
Ashton, who's well-known for prosecuting Casey Anthony, was linked to racially-charged policies in ads released by Soros's PAC.
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- Why did a NASA spacecraft suddenly start talking gibberish after more than 45 years of operation? What fixed it?
- ICICI Bank shares climb nearly 5% after Q4 earnings; mcap soars by ₹36,555.4 crore
- Markets rebound sharply on buying in bank stocks firm global trends
- Bengaluru's rental income highest in Q1-2024, Mumbai next: Anarock report
- Rupee falls 10 paise to settle at 83.48 against US dollar
- Nothing Phone (2a) blue edition launched
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market