Wisconsin Right to Life
by Ryan Sager
Mon, 25 Jun 2007 at 10:38 AM
updated Mon, 25 Jun 2007 at 10:41 AM
The most important election-related case of the year (and the most important First Amendment case) has been decided: Wisconsin Right to Life. The decision has been written by Chief Justice Roberts, so it can be assumed to come down on the side of free speech and against McCain-Feingold's restrictions on "sham issue ads"; it can also, being a Roberts decision, be assumed to be relatively narrow.
More when I know it ...
UPDATE (10:50 a.m.): Nice bias from AP: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court loosened restrictions Monday on corporate- and union-funded television ads that air close to elections, weakening a key provision of a landmark campaign finance law."
Yes, expanding free speech is "weakening" campaign-finance law. Come on, people...
UPDATE II (10:55 a.m.): More from SCOTUS Blog:
Completing a day of 5-4 decisions, the Court issued its fifth ruling of the day, concluding that a Wisconsin abortion rights group had a First Amendment right to aid during election season campaign ads that named a candidate running for the Senate. Three of the five Justices in the majority urged the Court to overturn the part of a 2003 ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the federal law restricting such radio and TV ads close to elections. The Chief Justice's main opinion, joined fully by Justice Alito, said the case did not provide an occasion to revisit that ruling. Justice Souter recited at length from the bench for the four dissenters -- who were in the minority on each of the day's rulings.
The decision would seem to cut in the right direction. But this sounds disappointingly narrow, given that the court had a good opportunity to throw out the entire ad ban.
I'd add, however, that this decision would seem to spell the end of the ad provision, ultimately. Justice Kennedy was the "swing vote" as to whether that provision would stand. And he's in the majority calling for its being overturned. The majority is: Robert, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy.
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