Supreme Court Vacancy Means Cash for Conservative Interest Groups

Jonathan Allen of CQ reports: Few political battles energize movement conservatives quite like a Supreme Court nomination fight. And word that Justice David H. Souter plans to retire at the end of this session sent a jolt through the right-wing fundraising circuit late Thursday night.

“This is a nuclear weapon for the conservatives out there,” said Dan Morgan, a veteran conservative fundraiser who founded Morgan, Meredith and Associates. “When you do fundraising, there’s an emotional component in this and boy the emotion is there magnified times 100.”

Abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, school prayer and property rights all converge at the justices’ white marble den across from the U.S. Capitol. That should all add up to a lot of money for conservatives who fear that “activist” jurists will liberalize America’s laws — even if the liberal-conservative balance on the court isn’t likely to shift — according to fundraising experts.

“Although Souter may be a more difficult case to make as his voting record is center-left, it does open the door for discussion of who, and how left a replacement, President Obama may choose,” said Linus Catignani, a partner at LCM Strategies who raised money for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. “It also gives clarity to the power of the presidency and generates lots of chatter regarding the fact that Obama may make up to four replacements in short order. That obviously paints a very scary picture for many conservatives.”