The probate commissioner who ruled against Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to consolidate control of the media titan’s vast empire has a history of supporting Democrat candidates and causes, a Daily Signal investigation revealed.

Edmund “Joe” Joseph Gorman Jr., the probate commissioner for Washoe County, Nevada, ruled in December that Murdoch would be unable to change his family trust to give his eldest son, Lachlan, more control over the Murdoch media empire upon his death. Lachlan is committed to maintaining Fox News’ conservative viewpoint.

Before the commissioner’s ruling, even members of the Murdoch family had a hard time uncovering Gorman’s sympathies and biases. At the time, three of Rupert’s other children—James, Elisabeth, and Prudence—and their spouses huddled inside a house at Lake Tahoe. “They searched Google for Edmund Gorman, the Nevada probate commissioner overseeing the proceedings, hoping to ascertain any biographical details that might reveal his sympathies,” a report from McKay Coppins of

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