Lawyers across America have anxiously anticipated the fate of an economic rescue package before Congress. The House of Representatives struck down the Bush administration’s initial proposal on Monday, 228-207, but a revised bill was passed by the Senate on Wednesday night, 74-25 (Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., ill with cancer, was absent), and passed the House on Friday in a 263-171 vote. President Bush swiftly signed the bill into law the same day.
So how did the Senate’s 60 lawyers vote, we wondered. Only 12 voted against the plan, which had plenty of pork attached to entice potential holdouts. Of the dissenters, only two had worked at Am Law 200 firms or their predecessors. Ten of the 47 lawyers who approved the bill can claim an Am Law 200 connection.
