SCOTUS debate becomes conservatives’ cash cow

Conservative activists, spoiling for a fight on President Obama’s eventual choice to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter, say they have been raking in donations over the last two weeks.

Gary Marx, executive director of the Judicial Confirmation Network, said the conservative base is revving up to fight a message war over whomever Obama names.

{mosads}“There is enthusiasm out there in the conservative Republican donor base to fight Supreme Court vacancies,” Marx said. “These are lifetime appointments, so it gives conservatives the opportunity to discuss the role they ought to have on the court.”

Since Souter’s announced retirement on May 1, Marx said his group has raised more than a million dollars and will devote several million to the Supreme Court fight.

The uptick in donations follows a breakfast meeting of conservative groups last week in which Souter’s retirement dominated the discussion and one participant offered $200,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, according to two GOP sources.

“In just the last few days, the key outside groups raised another $1.2 million in case there needs to be a fight,” one activist noted. “That’s on top of the months leading up to the vacancy” as conservatives anticipated Souter’s retirement.

“It’s time for us to take off the gloves and disclose the not-so-pretty,” the activist added.

On Monday, Marx held a conference call with supporters in which the group unveiled a new website, ObamasFrontRunners.com, that features bios of the three front-runners: Solicitor General Elana Kagan, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor and U.S. Appeals Court Judge Diane Wood.