SCOTUS Strikes Down Heart Of McCain-Feingold
By FITSNews || The U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal limits on corporate political spending Thursday, rebuking the central provision of a campaign finance reform bill passed eight years ago and dramatically altering the 2010 electoral landscape in favor of free speech.
The 5-4 ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a victory for supporters of the First Amendment (like us) and a stinking rebuke for Republican Sen. John McCain, who partnered with Democratic Senator Russ Feingold in 2002 to craft the campaign reform legislation that informally bears their names.
“The government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements, but it may not suppress that speech altogether,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.
Kennedy added that “if the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits jailing citizens for engaging in political speech.”
The decision – which stemmed from the regulation of a 2008 video that criticized then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton – was hailed by free speech advocates.
“Where is the ‘corruption’ if the campaign(s) being supported have no knowledge, let alone control over what independent actors do? — be they one person, two people, or a large group?” asked Ilya Shapiro, a constitutional law scholar with the Cato Institute.
Incidentally, two years ago the Court struck down another part of McCain-Feingold that prohibited groups from broadcasting ads that mention a candidate’s name in the weeks leading up to an election.
“This is the most significant First Amendment decision from the Supreme Court in more than a decade,” said Steve Simpson, an attorney with the Washington D.C.-based Institute for Justice, a pro-First Amendment group. “The Court has finally struck down blatant censorship that masquerades as campaign finance reform. Slowly but surely, the Court is prying Americans’ free speech rights away from the hands of government bureaucrats.”
Amen to that.
Simpson added that two upcoming cases, SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission and Sampson v. Buescher could expand free speech even further.
WEB EXTRAS
Institute for Justice News Release
Cato Institute News Release
Comments
By Liberty For Me on January 21st, 2010 at 1:10 pm
AWESOME!!!!OH yeah…I wonder what great things he could have done as president??..One can only have dreams..(or rather nightmares).
Liberty 2012…who will that be??..Who will the Republicans push??puppet shill Palin??
By Liberty For Me on January 21st, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Kennedy added that “if the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits jailing citizens for engaging in political speech.”
WOW….I take that as saying”If the Constitution means anything anymore”
Can you believe a supreme court justice has to say this?What state of affairs is our country in?? I think most are starting to find out.
By Not Sayin', Just Sayin' on January 21st, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Thanks God.
By PasserBy on January 21st, 2010 at 1:53 pm
I agree this is a victory for the good guys, but it’s also a victory for any group that wants to pump money into any campaign. I think the Dems will use this as ‘gloves off’ to dump tons of money into any candidates they think they can save this November; as long as the playing field is level, I’ll take it as a win for the 1st Amendment.
By Genomic Repairman on January 21st, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Hopefully we’ll be smart enough to repeal McCain-Feingold somewhere in the future.
By Kuykendalls Gold on January 21st, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Is a “stinking rebuke” the republican version of a dirty sanchez?
By Hmmmm.... on January 21st, 2010 at 3:42 pm
You know, I am thinking about NOT buying health care as a political protest.
I wonder if this ruling means that the Feds can’t fine/imprison me for that.
By Ynotfirst on January 21st, 2010 at 5:43 pm
best government the corporate world can buy
By Just a thought on January 21st, 2010 at 9:01 pm
This decision should please the republicans in the short run. Long run you have no meaningful right to speak to government. It is now consttuionally pay to play from Washington to Columbia. Its the oldest curse: Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.
By Libb on January 22nd, 2010 at 8:48 am
Amazing that some of you hail this as a victory. Do you really think the voice of the individual/people will prevail over the voice of corporations like Goldman Sachs, AIG, Exxon, Monsanto, Big Pharma, etal? This ruling may have effectively silenced the voice of the citizen and assured the corporatocracy that they rule.
Just pitiful.
By fitsnews on January 22nd, 2010 at 8:56 am
Any removal of speech regulation is a victory.
As for the flood of TV commercials that this will no doubt produce, well, the marketplace of ideas has been doing a pretty good job of filtering those out.
Seriously, Obama, Coakley et. al. spent millions on TV in Massachusetts and for what?
If your message sucks, or people don’t believe it, then it doesn’t matter how much money you spend.
-FITS
P.S. – Right now, it’s the PEOPLE sending a message to the special interest fed purveyors of DC bipartisanshit, not the other way around.
By Eric on January 22nd, 2010 at 10:10 am
Let’s not forget it was the former president who signed this catastrophe of a bill into law to begin with. At least the Supreme Court is finally dismantling it, albeit very slowly.
Answer me this: Why can’t anyone who wants to donate to a campaign or a candidate be allowed to give as much as they want as long as there is full disclosure?
By Me on January 24th, 2010 at 12:21 am
So you think it’s OK for big corporations to spend as much money as they please out of their general funds on politics. Well, consider for a moment where the money comes from. If comes from you and me. So from now on, when you go into Walmart and buy a TV, at least some portion of that money is going to go to support whatever political candidates the management of Walmart chooses. What kind of Democracy is that? And consider this: large corporations are multinational today. So from now on there will nothing to stop foreign nations from meddling in American politics as much as they please, through their dollars and influence over the corporations they are part of.
What the Roberts court has done is sell out American Democracy for partisan advantage. There are times when things happen that directly strike at the heart of our freedoms that all must condemn, regardless of political persuasions, and this is one of those times. So wake up, OK? Wake up before it is too late.
By Crooner on January 25th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
God help us all.