Bloomberg Law
Nov. 1, 2016, 2:11 PM UTC

Should Microsoft’s Top Lawyer Donate Money to Unseat a Judge?

Gabe Friedman
Freelancer

Microsoft’s chief legal officer Brad Smith has attracted attention in recent years for his company’s lawsuits that accuse the government of violating the Constitution in its efforts to obtain customers’ data.

But now some legal scholars are looking at Smith, along with Microsoft’s co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, for a different reason: Campaign finance reports show they’re part of a group that donated more than a half million dollars to a political action committee that aims to unseat an incumbent state Supreme Court justice in Washington state.

The Seattle Times reported Justice Charles Wiggins — whom Gates, Smith and others are trying to unseat — wrote the majority ...

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