WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The long battle in the United States over campaign financing hit the Supreme Court Monday in an unusual four-hour hearing.
In opposing arguments, the nine high-court justices heard Congress either far exceeded its powers with new legislation -- or was just trying to clean up the perception that the political process is corrupt.
Kenneth Starr, the one-time independent counsel who famously investigated former president Bill Clinton, told the justices the new law "goes too far" and "intrudes deeply into the political life of the nation," the New York Times reported.
Starr represents Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who is the new law's chief Congressional opponent.
Seth Waxman, former U.S. solicitor general and now the law's chief proponent, argued that if the court struck down the law, as its opponents are asking, it would be surrendering to "a counsel of despair" over ever reforming the campaign-finance system.
U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson described the law as a right and logical response to "the relentless pursuit of big contributions" that has tainted the political process in the public mind.
