The court and the common bond

Justices weigh in on the side of banks but many in Congress lean the other way

Credit unions are still a moving target. Sure, the Supreme Court ruled late last month that credit unions don't have the right to expand willy nilly. The justices opined that, under prior interpretations of the common bond, a single credit union could be created "whose members would include the employees of every company in the United States."

But even before the ink was dry on the Court's decree, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R.-Ga.) promised support for legislation to permit what the banking industry perceives as unbridled expansion by credit unions-a view clearly affirmed by the Supreme Court. …