The Austin American-Statesman is reporting Monday morning that Tom DeLay's lawyer says he thinks he can get all the charges dismissed against his client based on a ruling in a related case that Texas law didn't ban money laundering using checks, only cash.

The newspaper says a state appeals court ruling concludes that it wasn't illegal to launder money by check in 2002, the time at which DeLay and others stand accused of siphoning money through federal campaign accounts to try to avoid strict state limits. The law was changed to include checks in 2005, the newspaper reported.

DeLay resigned his seat in Congress in 2006 after being indicted on conspiracy and money laundering charges. And as appears possible with the new charges, some of the charges have already been dismissed on the grounds that the activity wasn't illegal in 2002,

— Stephen Dinan, national political correspondent, The Washington Times

• 
• Comment