How Attorney General Holder responds to the Common Cause request for an inquiry could have absolutely huge implications for how political campaigns and advocacy are paid for in the future:
Campaign finance ruling: Should Supreme Court justices have recused themselves?
The liberal group Common Cause asks the Justice Department to investigate whether Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Thomas should have stepped aside in a major campaign finance reform case a year ago.
January 20, 2011
The liberal advocacy group Common Cause announced on Thursday that it has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether two US Supreme Court justices should have recused themselves from consideration of a major campaign finance reform case last year.
Common Cause President Bob Edgar said the group has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to examine whether Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas should have stepped aside rather than vote in the Citizens United case.
Edgar wrote in a Jan. 19 letter to Holder. "If the department finds sufficient grounds for disqualification of either justice, we request that the solicitor general file a ... motion with the full Supreme Court seeking to vacate the judgment.
According to Supreme Court disclosure statements, the justices were invited by the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, to speak at dinners hosted by Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch and his wife, Elizabeth. The dinners were held at the Vintage Club in Indian Wells, Calif., Ms. Arberg said..
I'm in no position to judge the chances that this could result in vacating the Court's despicable Citizens United decision. The legal intricacies involved both inside Holder's Justice Department, and between the D.O.J., and the Supreme Court if it goes that far, boggle my layman's mind. So hopefully some of the commenters will be able to share their insights on what's most likely to happen.
Sigh Common Cause's petition HERE