CNN: Court's Special Session Marks Sotomayor Debut

[usregimechange]

Those are the monumental stakes when the justices return early from its summer recess Wednesday to re-hear a case which could radically alter the election calculus for corporations, unions, advocacy groups, and individuals seeking a voice in the crowded national political debate.

The court will hold a rare special session, which also marks the debut of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. At issue is whether prior rulings limiting corporate spending on federal elections should be overturned. The justices could decide to erase the subtle but important distinction between corporate donors -- which are subject to regulation -- and individual donors, who largely are not...

As for Sotomayor, her record on federal campaign spending is scant, but she is expected to follow in the footsteps of her predecessor. The retired David Souter had consistently backed congressional efforts at spending reform.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/04/mears.election.laws.1/index.html?eref=ib_topstories


:popcorn:

[Turbineguy]

1. Good. Something

to distract the wingnuts.

It's what we need. Distraction overload.

[usregimechange]

2. They are focused on phantoms right now

[usregimechange]

3. SCOTUS Blog post, sections about Sotomayor:

The FEC, on its side, probably can anticipate support from Justices Breyer, Ginsburg and Stevens, but at this stage can have no reliable sense of whether Justice Sonia Sotomayor would be the supporter of campaign finance regulation that her predecessor, retired Justice David H. Souter, so clearly was. And, for them, the reach for a fifth vote would seem to be a longer one.

Assuming that Sotomayordoes side withthe Stevens bloc, that group definitely needs to rely heavily upon arguments for judicial modesty or ”minimalism,” arguments that might stir some hesitation in Justice Kennedy, or perhaps even in the Chief Justice or Justice Alito.

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/argument-preview-corporations-in-politics/