The GOP moderates’ chance to fix campaign finance.

WASHINGTON -- Imagine that your neighbors started getting letters describing all sorts of horrific deeds you had allegedly performed. Wouldn't you feel you had the right to know who was spreading this sleaze—especially if the charges were untrue?

Now imagine a member of Congress telling a lobbyist from Consolidated Megacorp Inc. that she would do all she could to block an extra $2 billion in an appropriations bill to purchase the company's flawed widgets for the federal government. A week later, television advertisements start appearing in the representative's district portraying her as corrupt, out of touch and in league with lobbyists.

It turns out they are being paid for by Consolidated Megacorp through contributions to a front group called Americans for Clean Government. Shouldn't the voters be able to know who is behind the ads?

This hypothetical tale is not fantasyland, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's hideous decision earlier this year in the Citizens United case. But with Congress coming back this week, there's a chance to limit the damage the court has caused—if three moderate Senate Republicans are willing to act.

In a decision that was either the most Machiavellian in American history or the most naive, a 5-4 conservative majority broke with decades of precedent and said Congress had no right to ban corporate or labor union spending to influence the outcome of elections. The court ruled that corporations such as Consolidated Megacorp have to be treated the same as living, breathing "persons."