Editing Archibald Cox (section)

===Common Cause===
His judicial ambitions over, Cox turned his energies to leading outside advocacy and policy-making groups. In 1980 Cox was elected chairman of [[Common Cause]], the 230,000 member citizens' lobby, as John Gardner's successor. Cox wrote that "[t]he challenge was to reshape the machinery of self-government … so that every citizen knows that he or she can participate and that his or her participation counts ... ."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/02/03/archives/archibald-cox-is-elected-to-head-common-cause.html|title=Archibald Cox is Elected to Head Common Cause|work=New York Times|date=February 3, 1980|page=15|access-date=March 11, 2016|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725214453/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/02/03/archives/archibald-cox-is-elected-to-head-common-cause.html|archive-date=July 25, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> That same year he also became the founding chairman of the [[Health Effects Institute]], a partnership between the [[Environmental Protection Agency]] and private automobile and truck manufacturers to study the effects of emissions from motor vehicles. Cox said that the organization was designed to take the testing and scientific research concerning the health effects of this type of pollution "out of the adversarial context."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/12/13/archives/health-institute-to-study-motor-vehicle-emissions-concern-over.html|last=Shabecoff|first=Philip|title=Health Institute to Study Motor Vehicle Emissions|work=New York Times|date=December 13, 1980|page=8|access-date=March 11, 2016|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315153903/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/12/13/archives/health-institute-to-study-motor-vehicle-emissions-concern-over.html|archive-date=March 15, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

It was as head of Common Cause, however, that he was to make his final mark; his goal was to make government more transparent and responsible to the broad public rather than special interests in order to restore faith in government institutions. The very day he took office, the [[Abscam]] affair was leaked. While Cox personally deplored the leak, he immediately sent letters to congressional leaders underlining "the urgent necessity of looking into the charges to demonstrate that Congress is concerned about its honor and integrity."<ref name=CSMSatNight/> In July 1980 the organization instituted its first major litigation under Cox, and it was a follow-up on ''Buckley v. Valeo'': Common Cause sued the four "independent" groups that promised to spend between $38 and $58 million for television and print advertisements in support of the election of [[Ronald Reagan]], even though he agreed to abide by spending limits of $29.4 million as part of the agreement he made in accepting public financing.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9806EEDB1139F931A35754C0A966948260|last=Weaver|first=Warren Jr. |title=Group Supporting Reagan is Sued|work=New York Times|date=July 2, 1980|page=A17|access-date=May 4, 2016}}</ref> [[Right-to-work law|Right to work groups]] used the occasion to criticize Cox for attacking voluntary independent expenditures while ignoring union efforts on behalf of candidates.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/07/29/archives/on-straining-out-the-flies-and-swallowing-the-camel.html|last=Larson|first=Reed|title=On Straining Out the Flies and Swallowing the Camel|work=New York Times|date=July 29, 1980|page=A15|access-date=May 4, 2016|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725215311/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/07/29/archives/on-straining-out-the-flies-and-swallowing-the-camel.html|archive-date=July 25, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>  The D.C. District Court dismissed the case on the ground that any restrictions on "independent" spending amounted to an unconstitutional abridgment of freedom of speech. The Supreme Court, affirmed the decision by an equally divided court (Justice O'Connor not participating).<ref>''Common Cause v. Schmitt'', 455 U.S. 129 (1982). ''See'' {{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/24/weekinreview/major-news-in-summ-ary-free-speech-for-big-bucks.html|title=Major News in Summary; Free Speech For Big Bucks|work=New York Times|date=January 24, 1982|page=A1|access-date=May 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603122239/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/24/weekinreview/major-news-in-summ-ary-free-speech-for-big-bucks.html|archive-date=June 3, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> That case would be Cox's last argument before the Supreme Court.{{efn|Gormley determined that Cox argued 86 cases before the Court in his career, winning 61, losing 18 with 7 split decisions,{{sfn|Gormley|1997|p=557 n. 118}}}}

Conservatives' complaints against Common Cause became more general and more numerous from that summer to fall when the organization celebrated its tenth anniversary. [[Henry Fairlie]] published in the June issue of ''Harper's'' a broad (but largely unspecific) complaint against the organization for representing all that was wrong with American politics: "The underlying thrust of Common Cause reforms has been to weaken the political role of the very associations that give power to the otherwise powerless, and in the name of this misguided notion of participatory democracy Common Cause increases the opportunities of the already influential to extend their privileges."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://harpers.org/archive/1980/06/constitutional-complaints/|last=Fairley|first=Henry|title=Constitutional Complaints; What Ails America|magazine=Harper's|volume=240|number=1561|date=June 1980|pages=27–30, 32–34, 36, 29|access-date=May 4, 2016|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531151125/http://harpers.org/archive/1980/06/constitutional-complaints/|archive-date=May 31, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Tom Bethell (Washington editor of Harper's) wrote in the ''Times'' " The concept of 'reform' itself is beginning to be viewed with skepticism. Writers are more and more inclined to put the word inside quotation marks. In Washington these days, one often hears references to 'the unintended consequences of reform.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/08/24/archives/taking-hard-look-at-common-cause.html|last=Bethell|first=Tom|title=Taking a Hard Look at Common Cause|work=New York Times|date=August 24, 1980|page=A34|access-date=May 4, 2016|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726005755/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/08/24/archives/taking-hard-look-at-common-cause.html|archive-date=July 26, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Cox responded in an address on September 6, 1980: It was not reforms that were the problem, but rather incomplete implementation of them. The flood of money into national political campaigns was not the result of campaign finance reform, but of inadequate regulation of "independent" committees that informally coordinated with the campaigns. "[D]amaging and dangerous as the rising rate of influence of political action committee contributions is … the present law is clearly preferable to the old pre-Watergate conditions."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/09/07/archives/common-cause-marks-birthday-with-new-resolve-misguided-notion-of.html|last=Herbers|first=John|title=Common Cause Marks Birthday with New Resolve|work=New York Times|date=September 7, 1980|page=36|url-access=subscription|access-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725215406/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/09/07/archives/common-cause-marks-birthday-with-new-resolve-misguided-notion-of.html|archive-date=July 25, 2018|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Cox continued his campaign against large campaign contributions,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://greenbag.org/v1n3/v1n3_dialogue_cox_gossett.pdf/ |title=The Case for Campaign Finance Reform |author=Archibald Cox |website=[[The Green Bag (1997)|The Green Bag]] |language=en-US |access-date=2018-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023213040/http://www.greenbag.org/v1n3/v1n3_dialogue_cox_gossett.pdf |archive-date=2016-10-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Merry|first=George B.|title=PAC Foes Seek to Cap Dollars for Candidates|work=Christian Science Monitor|date=July 15, 1983|df=mdy-all|id = {{ProQuest|1037925060}}}}</ref> but he was largely unsuccessful in effecting any further change. He also supported efforts to increase voter participation by testifying in favor of bilingual ballots<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/22/us/hispanic-vote-gains-as-debate-on-rights-act-swirls.html|last=Crewdson|first=John M.|title=Hispanic Vote Gains as Debate on Rights Swirls|work=New York Times|date=May 22, 1981|page=A15|access-date=May 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604085853/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/22/us/hispanic-vote-gains-as-debate-on-rights-act-swirls.html|archive-date=June 4, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

After twelve years at the helm, Cox, at 79, chose to retire from the chairmanship of Common Cause as of February 1992.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/15/style/chronicle-078091.html|last=Anderson|first=Susan Heller|title=Chronicle|work=New York Times|date=May 15, 1991|page=B4|access-date=May 10, 2016|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604080843/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/15/style/chronicle-078091.html|archive-date=June 4, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>