Readers will know I have been covering progress of the Wisconsin Right to Life case, which challenges the portion of the McCain-Feingold campaign reform law that bans late election issue advocacy communications that mention a candidate’s name, but do not contain words of express advocacy of election/defeat of a candidate. The Supreme Court today decided the case in favor of the First Amendment rights of Wisconsin Right to Life, an Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(4) advocacy organization. This is a big win for issue advocacy speech in an election context and could change the way issues are addressed in an election context — it means nonprofit advocacy groups funded by unions and corporations will not be afraid to speak out during election periods on the records of legislators and candidates, as long as their underlying intent is to address their issue, and not the election itself.
The court, in a 5-4 vote, upheld an appeals court ruling that the anti-abortion group should have been allowed to air ads during the final two months before the 2004 elections. The ads asked voters to contact the state’s two senators, Democrats Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, and urge them not to filibuster President Bush’s judicial nominees. Feingold, a co-author of the campaign finance law, was up for re-election in 2004.
Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by his conservative allies, wrote a majority opinion upholding the appeals court ruling and gutting the issue advocacy restrictions of McCain-Feingold. And in an associated development, three justices, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, wrote they were even inclined to overrule the rest of the court’s 2003 decision upholding the constitutionality of the balance of McCain-Feingold.
This court is poised to take action in future, though by a narrow majority, to knock out other onerous campaign finance law provisions that affect the ability to communicate with voters, and not just issue ads.
June 25th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Between McCain’s anti-free speech and pro-amnesty positions, it’s no wonder he is dropping in the polls at warp speed. Finally the Supreme Court corrects a horrible law.