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Thanks to Seacrest and MSlawyer’s early-morning alertness, we can share the Wall Street Journal‘s major article (at last!) pulling together the Scruggs case(s).

Paulo Prada and Ashby Jones’ story (which includes a 1969-2008 timeline headlined “Path to a Bribery Charge” and a nearly-four minute video of Jones discussing same) reviews what we know as “Scruggsiana.” One of the more interesting passages:

In the suit by the other early partner in asbestos litigation, Mr. Wilson, an outside expert for a state judge said in January 2006 that Mr. Scruggs should pay $15 million.

At this point, the risk to Mr. Scruggs was that the state-court judge would adopt that recommendation and order Mr. Scruggs to pay $15 million. To prevent this, the Scruggs defense team paid a close friend of the judge $50,000 to give the team drafts of court orders before they became final, according to a federal-court “information” document outlining charges for a guilty plea in the matter by Joey Langston, who was representing Mr. Scruggs in the case.

Mr. Scruggs had told Mr. Langston to tell the state judge that if he ruled in Mr. Scruggs’s favor, Mr. Scruggs would pass the judge’s name along for a federal judgeship, according to a prosecutor’s account, as accepted in the guilty plea. Mr. Scruggs paid $3 million to those who set up this effort to sway the judge, according to the guilty-plea information document.

A key step in getting a federal judgeship is a recommendation from a U.S. senator. Mr. Scruggs suggested to his brother-in-law, then-Sen. Lott, that the state judge be considered, according to people familiar with the situation. Mr. Lott called the state judge to say he was aware of his interest in the federal bench.

In August 2006 the state judge, Robert “Bobby” DeLaughter, ruled that Mr. Scruggs didn’t owe Mr. Wilson $15 million — as the outside expert had said — but only $1.5 million. Judge DeLaughter didn’t return calls seeking comment. He has told the local press that “I know I didn’t take a bribe.” Ultimately, Sen. Lott endorsed someone else for the federal judgeship.

Judge DeLaughter remains on the bench and hasn’t faced charges in the case, nor has Mr. Scruggs. Mr. Scruggs’s lawyer, Mr. Keker, says, “I don’t think there’s any evidence anywhere that there was a quid pro quo or that the judge was given a thing of value or that he was influenced in any way.”

Joey Langston’s guilty plea, to conspiracy to corruptly influence a state official, came in January. The investigation is continuing.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and two prosecutors have interviewed Mr. Lott in recent weeks, say people familiar with the matter. He “may be a witness” in the case against Mr. Scruggs, says U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee. An attorney for Mr. Lott, who resigned from the Senate in late 2007, said, “Sen. Lott is a witness and only a witness.”

Especially if your Scruggsiana addiction is recent, you’ll want to read the whole thing.