* Case involves movie critical of Hillary Clinton

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The Supreme Court returns on Wednesday to consider ending long-standing limits on corporate and union spending in political campaigns — a move critics say could give big money more influence over U.S. elections.

Proponents say the case, which involves a movie critical of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, represents a basic issue of free speech.

But a decision by the nation’s highest court in the case could reshape the rules on how money can be spent in presidential and congressional elections, which already break new spending records with each political cycle.

Some analysts see this as one of the areas where a more conservative court — with two members appointed by former Republican President George W. Bush — may make a dramatic change in the law.

The justices first heard arguments in March but decided in June to hold another session to consider the more important issue of whether to overturn two of its past rulings that limit direct corporate and union financing of campaigns.

Supporters of the restrictions said the court could unleash a flood of corporate money into the U.S. political system to promote or defeat candidates.

“Overturning these well-established laws would turn our elections into free-for-alls, with massive corporate and union spending,” said David Arkush of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington.

“Corporate influence would likely be strengthened over all policy decisions — on healthcare reform, climate change, trade, everything,” said Arkush, director of the group’s Congress Watch division.

SPENDING ON 2008 CAMPAIGNS

In the 2008 election cycle, nearly $6 billion was spent on all federal campaigns, including more than $1 billion from corporate political action committees, trade associations, executives and lobbyists.

The case stemmed from a conservative advocacy group’s challenge to the federal campaign finance law as part of its effort to broadcast and promote a movie critical of Clinton during her presidential campaign.

The group, Citizens United, released a 90-minute documentary film “Hillary: The Movie” in January 2008 when Clinton, then a U.S. senator from New York, was running for president. She later became President Barack Obama’s secretary of state.

The justices cut short their normal summer vacations to hear the 80 minutes of scheduled arguments in the case about a month before the formal opening of their new term. It will be the first case heard by new Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

The 2002 campaign finance law at issue in the case was named after Senator John McCain, the unsuccessful Republican presidential nominee in 2008, and Democratic Senator Russell Feingold.

The court’s conservative majority, with the addition of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both Bush appointees, already has voted to limit or strike down parts of the law designed to regulate the role of money in politics and prevent corruption.

The court will consider whether to overrule the part of its 2003 ruling that upheld a provision that restricts broadcast ads by companies and unions right before elections.

It also will consider throwing out the part of the 2003 ruling and its 1990 decision that upheld federal and state limits on corporate spending.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan, who was considered by Obama for the Supreme Court vacancy that ultimately went to Sotomayor, will be making her first argument before the court in defending the limits.

Theodore Olson, a prominent conservative lawyer, will argue the limits violate free-speech rights.

A ruling is expected late this year or early next year.

Hearing the news of his resignation over the weekend, I consulted the website of Green for All, the Oakland-based project he co-founded and ran before accepting the White House appointment. GFA expressed sadness and obliquely referred to “the buzz and speculation surrounding this news.”

Clearly, this was a murky issue, and Green For All wanted to avoid the mud.

Once I figured out that Jones had been heckled out of his job by right-wing ideologue, Fox News TV commentator and Supreme Heckler Glenn Beck, I knew there had to be lots more to read.

Chris Kelly had a wickedly blunt column on Huffington Post (though it preceded Jones’ resignation and was mostly about Meg Whitman) that drilled right to the core. He concluded that Jones had come under right-wing fire because he was black and a Marxist. “You might even call him a black Marxist. Because of how black he is. And because he’s a Marxist.”

As more news emerged, it became obvious that race was central. Beck had attacked Jones in retaliation for a boycott of his show led by Color of Change, an African-American advocacy group co-founded by Jones and James Rucker. The group was angered when Beck called President Obama a racist.

Ariana Huffington came on board today with a column thanking Glenn Beck for returning Van Jones to the public sector, where he can be more effective anyway: “Van Jones is a thoughtful leader who knows how to use words to move people to action,” she said. “…Now, thanks to Glenn Beck, we’ve got that voice back. No longer tied to his desk with a sock in his mouth, Van is now freed to do what he does best: inspire and energize groups around the country.”

There’s a scary thought, a black man on the loose inspiring the country. Next thing you know he’ll be wanting to speak to our youth about personal responsibility, fortitude and striving to do well in school.

Speaking of voices. Beck, Kelly and Huffington are all notably partisan, albeit at different political poles.

Which makes me wonder what moderate regular folks think? Could it be that most Americans, stressed by health care, job losses, real estate issues and the continuing war in the Middle East, simply see all this yammering as a missed turn in the road to getting things done? (That is, if they’re aware of it at all.)

For the majority of us who reside outside the political fray, this resignation is simply unfortunate because we need a strong leader guiding us toward more sustainable ways, especially here in the US where we gobble an amazing 40 percent of the world’s resources. We need to transition to new energy sources, green building and efficient business operations that can steer us clear of climate change catastrophes. These changes can and will provide economic renewal in the form of green jobs. That’s not just a hope. Green changes are already happening on a micro-scale, in wind turbine plants, on organic farms, at solar plants and electric car facilities.

The high-level post at the fulcrum of the action is so pivotal, and yet so vulnerable.

On hindsight, anyone serving as the green jobs chief was likely to be skewered in a country that still debates whether global warming exists… and is caused by carbon emissions from human enterprises.

Now we need someone who will help bring us together. Someone who can talk to us about personal responsibility.

“With President Obama poised to give a health-care address Wednesday before a joint session of Congress, administration officials promised that he will deliver a detailed prescription for reform despite the risks of spelling out exactly where he stands,” reports the Washington Post’s Anne E. Kornblut.

“Vice President Biden, in an appearance in Washington on Thursday, said the speech will map out ‘in understandable, clear terms what our administration wants to happen with regard to health care, and what we are going to push for specifically.’

“Though favoring one proposal over another carries political risks, potentially limiting what Obama might be able to claim as a victory, senior administration officials said the speech will satisfy demands that he clarify which provisions he supports and which he could jettison. The contents of the speech are largely decided, officials said.

“‘I don’t think that there will be any ambiguity about where he thinks we have to go from here,’ senior adviser David Axelrod said.”

One idea that may come into play: a public option “trigger”, reports the Los Angeles Times’ Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons.

“Looking to break the logjam on healthcare legislation, the White House and Democrats in the Senate are increasingly placing their hopes on the idea of a ‘trigger’ that, if set off, would allow the government to offer health insurance to many Americans.

“Under a trigger, private insurance companies would be told to meet benchmarks for improving the health system, such as insuring more Americans and reducing healthcare costs. If they failed to do so by a certain deadline, the federal government would launch its own health insurance program.

“The plan might win over moderate Republican and wavering Democratic senators, who do not want to give the government blanket authorization to enter the insurance market and compete with private companies. At the same time, President Obama could make the argument that he has not abandoned the prospect of a government-run plan, also called a ‘public option,’ which liberals contend is needed to inject competition into the insurance industry.”

The New York Times’ Robert Pear and Jackie Calmes with more on the “trigger”, “Health Care Idea Has Public Plan Only as Backup”

Bloomberg News’ Holly Rosenkrantz, “Public Option Not Vital to Health Reform, Teamsters’ Hoffa Says”: “[he] said dropping the so-called public option wouldn’t be a ‘deal killer’ for health-care legislation, signaling a split among leaders of unions that are a core constituency of President Barack Obama.”

Wall Street Journal’s Janet Adamy, “Obama Press on Details of Plan”

Meantime, Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and the five other senators negotiating a possible compromise will talk today, reports Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown.

“Most top Democrats, including senior White House advisers, may no longer expect a health care deal out of the bipartisan ‘Group of Six,’ but the senators still plan to talk Friday for the first time as a group in more than two weeks.

“Don’t expect any major announcements: the group wants to meet face-to-face next week and talk about what has transpired over the last month before they make any decisions about the fate of their negotiations, congressional sources said Thursday.

Washington Post’s Shailagh Murray on Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., “A GOP Senator Looking to Meet Halfway”

Bloomberg News’ Julianna Goldman and Nicholas Johnston, “Obama May Need Sense of Crisis to Revive Health-Care Overhaul”

Mirza and Nestor duo was outplayed by Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott of the USA, in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

The Indo-Canadian pair who were playing together for the first time in this tournament just didn’t seem to find their feet and were broken twice in the first set.

Mirza and Nestor showed signs of improvement in the second set but just couldn’t convert the one break point opportunity they had.

With this Mirza lost all the events in which she participated.

Meanwhile, 17-year old Indian, Yuki Bhambri entered the second round in the junior boys event.

He defeated American opponent Jordan Cox, 6-2, 6-1.

The junior world number one broke his rival twice in the first set and thrice in the second and only once he faced the threat of a break of serve.

He will next clash with Swiss Sandro Ehrat, who beat Patrik Brydolf 6-2, 6-4 in his first round clash.

Yuki is the favorite to win the junior title in New York having already won the Australian Open

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