Earlier this month, Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) questioning whether the group, whose lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act is currently before the Supreme Court, truly represents the interests of small businesses. The NFIB has deep connections to conservative political groups and spends millions backing Republican candidates. And with the Supreme Court's ruling expected later this week, Fox's straight news programming is coming to the NFIB's defense.

In a June 12 letter to NFIB president Dan Danner, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), co-chairs of the Democratic Congressional Progressive Caucus, questioned the NFIB's claim that it represents small business interests, writing:

We believe the financial ties of the NFIB to corporate-funded political activist groups such as Crossroads GPS -- whose parent organization, American Crossroads, counts Karl Rove as an adviser and whose president, Steven Law, was formerly general counsel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- call into question the NFIB's role in speaking for small business interests. Given recent disclosures about your finances and those of other groups, we are writing to ask who is funding your lawsuit and other legal and political operations.

Why is NFIB the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that, if found in your favor, would thrust small business owners back into the ineffective system of skyrocketing rates and low-quality coverage? This is not in the best interest of small business owners, and it does not reflect the popular opinion of the American small business community. As CBS News recently reported, while you continue to argue the law will hurt small businesses, “Other small business groups argue the opposite, claiming that the law is already lowering costs, expanding firms' insurance options, and easing the process of arranging coverage.”

Fox's Megyn Kelly and Stuart Varney discussed the letter on today's edition of America Live. After Kelly introduced the segment, Varney said that “it's very clear that small businesses in America do not like Obamacare,” and cited polling that backed up his assertion. When asked by Kelly the purpose of Grijalva and Ellison's letter, Varney said the letter is “an attempt to intimidate, an attempt to get out in front and be critical of this group before an adverse ruling comes.”

After Kelly suggested that Grijalva and Ellison are “sort of tarring [the NFIB] with a Republican, right-leaning sort of agenda when, in fact, they have a small business agenda,” Varney responded by saying: “I would hesitate to use the word propaganda, but that comes pretty close.”

As Salon has noted, the NFIB has a clear record of partisan activism. According to Salon, “The group has given vastly more to GOP candidates than to Democrats, with over 90 percent of its contributions going to Republicans for the past 15 years, on average. So far this year, they've given almost $300,000 to GOP candidates and just $3,500 to Democrats.”

In the 2010 election cycle, NFIB's political action committee spent more than a million dollars to support Republican candidates. It spent none on Democrats.

And, according to Bloomberg Business Week, Karl Rove's American Crossroads gave $3.7 million to the NFIB last year.

This is not the first time Fox has come to the defense of a GOP-allied group. After Coca-Cola cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) following a boycott by the advocacy group Color of Change, Fox provided ALEC a platform to defend itself and did not ask about funding ALEC receives from the controversial Koch brothers or why ALEC was pushing for voter ID laws in the absence of evidence of voter fraud, among other things.