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POLITICAL VICTORY FUND Stevens, J., dissenting
One of the most dramatic events of the entire Watergate scandal was the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox in October 1973. When Cox threatened to secure a judicial determination that the President was violating a court order to deliver certain Presidential tapes, President Nixon ordered the Attorney General to fire Cox. Both the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General refused, and instead resigned. The President's order to fire Cox was then carried out by the Solicitor General, in his capacity as Acting Attorney General. See generally In re Olson, 818 F. 2d 34, 41-42 (CADC 1987) (per curiam). This incident, which came to be known as the "Saturday Night Massacre," sparked tremendous public outrage, of which Congress was surely aware. Against this background, Congress would not have been likely, less than one year later, to have made the FEC dependent for its Supreme Court litigation on the approval of the Solicitor General.
In short, the legislative history of the 1974 amendments shows that Congress intended the FEC to have ample authority to oversee Presidential campaigns free of Executive influence. The FEC's authority to conduct civil litigation, including appellate litigation, must be construed in the light of Congress' intent.
Given the language and historical context of § 437d(a)(6), it is unsurprising that the FEC has had a long and uninterrupted history of independent litigation before this Court.3 Though, as the majority notes, ante, at 97, that history does not preclude us from reexamining the FEC's authority, the contemporaneous practice of independent litigation, uninterrupted in subsequent years, provides confirmation of Con-3 The FEC has represented itself in cases resulting in decisions on the merits, see ante, at 97, and as amicus curiae, see, e. g., First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U. S. 765 (1978); Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U. S. 652 (1990). Cf. R. Stern, E. Gressman, S. Shapiro, & K. Geller, Supreme Court Practice 68, n. 56 (7th ed. 1993) (noting FEC's authority to litigate on its own behalf pursuant to § 437d(a)(6)).
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