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About
Ann Corkery is an American lawyer and conservative activist renowned for her pivotal role in conservative judicial advocacy networks. She co-founded the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), now known as the Concord Fund, in 2005 alongside California real estate magnate Robin Arkley II, and served as a key fundraiser. She co-founded the Well Versed and has been involved in various conservative legal and political initiatives. Corkery directed the Wellspring Committee from 2008 until its closure in 2018, channeling tens of millions in undisclosed 'dark money' to support the confirmations of conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices including Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett through groups like JCN and the Judicial Education Project. With her husband, Neil Corkery, she cultivated a network of opaque conservative, Republican, and Catholic-affiliated nonprofits influencing public policy and judicial nominations. She has professional ties to Leonard Leo and organizations within his judicial influence network. Corkery entered Republican politics around 2000, aiding the Republican National Committee with Catholic outreach. In 2008, she co-chaired the National Women for Mitt Romney Finance Committee. President George W. Bush appointed her in 2003 as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, where she advocated for a ban on human cloning, and to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Deeply involved in conservative Catholicism, she has been associated with Opus Dei (introduced by her husband, who later left), served as a former director of the Catholic League under Bill Donohue, and was a board member of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. She practices as a partner at the Washington, D.C. law firm Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP, specializing in communication strategy for political candidates. Corkery faced legal scrutiny in a 2014 Delaware Court of Chancery lawsuit (Bishop Macram Max Gassis v. Neil Corkery et al., Civil Action No. 8868-VCG) as a director of the Bishop Gassis Sudan Relief Fund, Inc., involving allegations of board misconduct and the removal of Bishop Gassis; the case centered on governance disputes over the nonprofit's operations and donor funds.