Banks' pinzer tactics

Sounds like bad cop (Constitutional challenge) versus good cop (sweet, sweet lobbying goodness), as the banks try to fight back the populist tide.

A court challenge would open a new front in the banking industry’s assault on additional financial regulation. It might also further splinter the powerful financial lobby. The issue has already pitted smaller banks, which would be exempt from the tax, against their less popular Wall Street peers, and it has even stirred debate within the large banks over whether such an aggressive legal strategy would be politically wise.

Privately, executives at several large banks said they believed a legal battle was doomed to fail in Washington and risked escalating public rage over the bailouts of the banks. These executives say the industry may be better off pushing for a watered-down version of the tax. Most banks are just beginning to consider how, or whether, they would oppose it.

It will get even more complicated when Congress, at the banks' insistence, include GM and Chrysler in the formula.