December 22, 2006

A Half-Victory for Freedom of Speech

A federal court yesterday loosened restrictions on corporations, unions and other special interest groups that run political advertising in peak election season, ruling that such groups may mention candidates by name in commercials as long as they are trying to influence public policy, rather than sway an election. The case involved a challenge to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law which banned such groups from using unrestricted money to run advertisements that name candidates two months before a general election or one month before a primary. McCain-Feingold was an anti-First Amendment incumbent-protection law designed to restrict campaign speech. The court should have ruled that any restrictions on what any individual or group could say in a campaign ad was anathema to the basic founding principles of America.

Here's the Associated Press story on the ruling. The Los Angeles Times says the ruling cuts "the first hole" in McCain-Feingold and "sets the stage for the Supreme Court to reconsider" that law.

With its story, the Washington Post seems to accept the odd notion that federal government ought to regulate the content of campaign ads but not "issue advocacy" ads aired during campaign season.

Update: See a longer, better, new-and-improver version of this post over at ElephantBiz.com.