A push to make outside investors' financial stakes in U.S. litigation more visible is ratcheting up, but GOP-backed legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives is facing fresh opposition from both Democratic lawmakers and some influential conservative groups.
The House Judiciary Committee adjourned a meeting on Thursday without taking a scheduled vote on the measure, sponsored by Republican Darrell Issa of California, which would require all civil litigants in federal court to disclose third-party funding deals and provide copies of their agreements to the court and opposing parties.
Conservative groups including America First Legal, co-founded by senior White House aide Stephen Miller, and the Oversight Project, a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation, came out in recent days strongly opposing the legislation, arguing the transparency requirements would have a chilling effect on free speech.
That placed them in an unlikely alliance with Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, who argued against the bill during a committee meeting on Tuesday. Third-party litigation provides a necessary balance against corporate defendants that "will try to spend you into oblivion rather than give you the opportunity to win in court," Raskin said.
Read more from my colleagues David Thomas, Mike Scarcella and Sara Merken in this week's Billable Hours.
