Rehnquist May Be Key for Campaign Finance

Chief Justice's Past Votes Leave Outcome of Challenges to McCain-Feingold Law Uncertain

When the Supreme Court convenes Sept. 8 to hear four hours of argument on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, the center chair on the bench will be occupied, as usual, by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.

But in this case, Rehnquist's position will symbolize more than just his command of the courtroom. His is also widely regarded as a potentially pivotal vote on the law.

Normally a reliable member of a three-justice voting bloc on the right with Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, Rehnquist, 78, is much less predictable on campaign finance regulation. And McCain-Feingold supporters believe that, based on his record, the chief justice -- appointed to the bench by President Richard M. Nixon, whose Watergate excesses triggered campaign finance legislation -- could be their best friend in court.

Scalia, Thomas and a more moderate conservative justice, Anthony M. Kennedy, have written opinions suggesting that most of the current campaign finance law is unconstitutional. But Rehnquist was a member of the court majority in 1976 that permitted regulation of campaign fundraising, and since then, he has consistently supported the power of Congress to rein in corporate and union political spending.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5463-2003Aug30.html

Whatever will help the rabid right.