Sen. Bob Casey’s political campaign has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from his brother’s personal injury law firm over the past 15 years — and the lawmaker has tapped one of its partners to help him nominate federal judges.
Attorneys and staff at Philadelphia-based Ross Feller Casey, LLP, have donated $222,566 to Bob Casey for Senate since 2008, federal election filings show, of which more than $85,000 arrived this past April — the largest contribution to date.
Founding partners of the Philadelphia-based firm — including Matt Casey, the senator’s brother — have already maxed out donations to the Pennsylvania Democrat ahead of what is expected to be a competitive 2024 campaign.
Casey (D-Pa.) also has twice picked one of those partners, Robert Ross, to co-chair a panel that helped confirm dozens of federal judges in the Keystone State.
“Since Sen. Casey came into the Senate, every federal judge from Pennsylvania has been nominated through a joint recommendation with [former Republican] Sen. [Pat] Toomey or his predecessor [Arlen Specter] — a bipartisan process praised by Sen. Toomey,” a spokeswoman for Casey’s campaign told The Post.
“Meanwhile, mega-millionaire David McCormick’s past campaign was bankrolled by the same Wall Street friends he spent his career enriching, including more than $250,000 in direct donations from employees of Goldman Sachs, where McCormick’s wife Dina Powell McCormick worked for years.”
The Senate Select Committee on Ethics did not respond to a request for comment.
McCormick is expected to announce he will challenge Casey for his seat after losing the 2022 Republican primary race to celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz, a Trump-endorsed candidate who was defeated by Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) in the general election.
The Republican’s 2022 Senate campaign took more than $280,000 in donations from Goldman Sachs employees, according to federal filings.
Casey and Toomey, who retired earlier this year after serving two six-year terms, agreed to each appoint a co-chair and 10 panel members on a bipartisan basis to vet federal judicial nominees for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania starting in 2011, according to a comtemporary Casey press release.
The arrangement “was mutually beneficial” in letting each senator approve nominees under both former President Barack Obama and former President Donald Trump, according to a former GOP campaign operative with knowledge of the matter.
“They got to work together. And there were stories during the campaigns that they were actually very successful in filling the judicial vacancies,” the operative said.
Toomey selected John Soroko, chairman emeritus and partner at another Philadelphia law firm, Duane Morris LLP, in 2011 and again in 2021 as co-chair, and Casey chose Ross both times.
However, the ex-GOP campaign staffer noted there was a sizable difference between donations given by Soroko and his firm and contributions from Ross Feller Casey.
“I’m sure if you look at Soroko’s giving history, he probably maxed out,” the person said, adding that he was “very qualified” and had “been financially supportive, as a lot of lawyers are.” The campaign aide did not say the same of Casey’s donations.
“To be in the hundreds of thousands” from a firm that “partners with a family member of Casey — that’s slightly different,” the former staffer went on.
The Casey campaign spokeswoman called the remarks “a desperate attack.”
Attorneys and staff at Duane Morris gave $32,450 to Toomey during his time in the Senate, federal election filings show. Soroko did not max out his donations every election cycle. Neither did Ross or other partners at his firm.
Soroko has served as a member and president judge on the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline. Ross has served as a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Civil Procedural Rules Committee.
Matt Casey also helped his brother in the final months of his 2012 campaign for re-election, according to The Scranton Times Tribune. He also served as a campaign adviser to during Bob Casey’s unsuccessful 2002 gubernatorial campaign, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported.
Patrick Casey, the Pennsylvania Democrat’s other brother, registered to lobby in October 2022 as a partner at Dentons Global Advisors Government Relations, Politico first reported.
His issues, according to disclosure forms, included US policy on semiconductors and the implementation of the Chips and Science Act, for which Casey voted.
Ethics rules prohibit senators’ staff from having contact with family members who lobby, and Casey’s office has confirmed it abides by those guidelines.
The Casey campaign has also paid more than $500,000 to a printing company co-owned by the senator’s sister, Margi McGrath, during his state- and federal-level political career from 2005 to 2022.
Casey is the son of the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey Sr. and held positions as the state’s auditor general and treasurer before being elected to the US Senate.
