Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton to replace retiring justice Byron White, and at the time was viewed as a moderate consensus-builder. Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor. During her tenure, Ginsburg authored the majority opinions in cases such as United States v. Virginia (1996), Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. (2000), and City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York (2005). Later in her tenure, Ginsburg received attention for passionate dissents that reflected liberal views of the law. She was popularly dubbed "the Notorious R.B.G.", a moniker she later embraced.
Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman and political figure known for his key roles in the automotive company Tesla, Inc. and the space company SpaceX. Since January 2025, he is serving as Administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency, under the second Donald Trump presidential administration of the United States. He is also known for his ownership of X Corp., and his role in the founding of the Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI. Musk is the wealthiest individual in the world; as of January 2025, Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$427 billion.
ActBlue is an American Democratic Party political action committee (PAC) and fundraising platform founded in 2004. ActBlue is a major part of the Democratic Party's fundraising infrastructure. It is focused on mobilizing small-dollar donors and, as of June 2024, had raised $13.7 billion for Democratic candidates and causes since it was established. ActBlue is organized as a PAC, but it serves as a conduit for processing individual contributions made through the platform. Under federal law, these contributions are made by individuals and are not considered PAC donations.
The "PayPal Mafia" is a group of former PayPal employees and founders who have since founded and/or developed additional technology companies based in Silicon Valley, such as Tesla, Inc., LinkedIn, Palantir Technologies, SpaceX, Affirm, Slide, Kiva, YouTube, Yelp, and Yammer. Most of the members attended Stanford University or University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at some point in their studies.
Independent expenditure-only political action committees, better known as super PACs, are a type of political action committee (PAC) in the United States. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are legally allowed to fundraise unlimited amounts of money from individuals or organisations for the purpose of campaign advertising; however, they are not permitted to either coordinate with or contribute directly to candidate campaigns or political parties. Super PACs are subject to the same organizational, reporting, and public disclosure requirements of traditional PACs.
In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public.
Richard Ellis Uihlein and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire businesspeople, founders of Uline and right-wing donors. Richard Uihlein is also an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune.
The Concord Fund is an American conservative advocacy organization. Its president is Carrie Severino, a former law clerk for Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas. In 2020, OpenSecrets described the organization as having "unmatched influence in recent years in shaping the federal judiciary." It is among a network of organizations associated with Leonard Leo, a co-chair of the Federalist Society, that are funded mostly by anonymous donors, with funding distributed by Concord and a related group, The 85 Fund.
American Bridge 21st Century or AB PAC is a liberal American Super PAC and opposition research group that supports Democratic candidates and opposes Republican candidates. It was founded by David Brock in 2010 and is associated with Media Matters for America.
RBG is a 2018 American documentary film focusing on the life and career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States after Sandra Day O'Connor. After premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the film was released in the United States on May 4, 2018. The film was directed and produced by Betsy West and Julie Cohen.
Nicole Ann Shanahan is an American attorney working in Silicon Valley. She was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate in his 2024 independent presidential campaign.
Elon Musk is the CEO or owner of multiple companies including Tesla, SpaceX, and X Corp., and has expressed many views on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from politics to science.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, died from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87. Her death received immediate and significant public attention; a vigil at the Supreme Court plaza in Washington, D.C., was held that same evening. Memorials and vigils were held in several U.S. cities, including Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco.
The statue of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a 7 ft (2.1 m) bronze statue of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. It was installed outside 445 Albee Square in Downtown Brooklyn's City Point in New York City on March 12, 2021. The statue was moved to South Brooklyn Health in October 2022 and is located inside the lobby of the facility's Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital, which opened on May 2, 2023.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a hub of undisclosed political spending on the American Left. The group serves as a fiscal sponsor for other organizations, incubating and financing various progressive projects. According to The New York Times, "The Sixteen Thirty is part of a broader network of progressive nonprofits that donors use to fill specific spaces on the political chessboard." The Sixteen Thirty Fund is administered by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consulting firm.
Citizens for Sanity (CFS) is a political action committee founded in the United States in June 2022. The group ran ads costing $93 million in the lead-up to the 2022 United States elections in support of conservative culture war causes; more than $50 million of the money came from Elon Musk. The organization is aligned with the policies of Donald Trump and operates out of the headquarters of the Conservative Partnership Institute in Washington, D.C..
Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$436 billion as of January 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and $426 billion according to Forbes, primarily from his ownership stakes in Tesla, Inc. and SpaceX. In November 2021, he became the first person in the world to have a net worth above $300 billion, and in December 2024, he became the first person to reach a net worth of $400 billion.
The America PAC is a super PAC created by Elon Musk with the backing of a number of prominent tech businessmen to support Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. The group's primary purpose is to finance canvassing operations. Musk is the primary donor, with his contributions making up 91% of the declared contributions as of December 2024.
Building America's Future is a political non-profit organization funded by Elon Musk actively supporting Donald Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 United States elections.
Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla and the executive chairman of X, has engaged in political activities in the United States and internationally.
