The Berggruen Institute is named by Nicolas Berggruen, a Paris-born businessman who is reportedly a U.S.-German dual citizen. He moved to the U.S. after university. He is a successful real estate developer and investor who took his million-dollar trust fund (in today’s dollars) and turned it into a billion dollars.
For questions about regulations relating to real estate development, Mr. Berggruen would undoubtably have useful knowledge. But that is not his goal.
His goal is to influence U.S. and European law more broadly. That is why he is funding his Berggruen Institute. News articles have said one of his goals is to “fight climate change.” Another initiative, a collaboration with the Huffington Post and the Washington Post, which should tell you quite a bit, is called The WorldPost. It is predictably left. It publishes articles saying the President Trump “denigrates democratic allies,” that he is “robbing America of what makes it great,” and that another politician is “a relentless advocate of gun ownership.” The horror! Of course the Washington Post reprints them as news.
So why would Mr. Berggruen give Justice Ginsburg a $1M gift? He surely knows that Supreme Court rules prohibit the justice from accepting any cash gift, even $50.
The answer is twofold. First, he wants to be noticed. #MediaJackals will write gleefully about this gift. People who never heard of Nicolas Berggruen now know who he is. Second, it signals that if you are a prominent lefty jurist, you might get a $1M handout after you leave the bench. Supreme Court justices get a salary of about $250,000 a year. That’s not bad, but it doesn’t pay for your vacation home in Aspen. Retirement now looks more desirable.
As long as you continue to vote the way Nicolas Berggruen wants.
The Berggruen Institute is named by Nicolas Berggruen, a Paris-born businessman who is reportedly a U.S.-German dual citizen. He moved to the U.S. after university. He is a successful real estate developer and investor who took his million-dollar trust fund (in today’s dollars) and turned it into a billion dollars.
For questions about regulations relating to real estate development, Mr. Berggruen would undoubtably have useful knowledge. But that is not his goal.
His goal is to influence U.S. and European law more broadly. That is why he is funding his Berggruen Institute. News articles have said one of his goals is to “fight climate change.” Another initiative, a collaboration with the Huffington Post and the Washington Post, which should tell you quite a bit, is called The WorldPost. It is predictably left. It publishes articles saying the President Trump “denigrates democratic allies,” that he is “robbing America of what makes it great,” and that another politician is “a relentless advocate of gun ownership.” The horror! Of course the Washington Post reprints them as news.
So why would Mr. Berggruen give Justice Ginsburg a $1M gift? He surely knows that Supreme Court rules prohibit the justice from accepting any cash gift, even $50.
The answer is twofold. First, he wants to be noticed. #MediaJackals will write gleefully about this gift. People who never heard of Nicolas Berggruen now know who he is. Second, it signals that if you are a prominent lefty jurist, you might get a $1M handout after you leave the bench. Supreme Court justices get a salary of about $250,000 a year. That’s not bad, but it doesn’t pay for your vacation home in Aspen. Retirement now looks more desirable.
As long as you continue to vote the way Nicolas Berggruen wants.
If RBG wanted to tell other left donors not to give SCOTUS justices $1M checks, she could donate this $1M to the NRA… That would stop it real quick…