Victory for free speech

The Supreme Court ruled today to loosen the grip of the McCain-Feingold knot on use of the airwaves before an election.

The court split 5-4 in upholding an appeals court ruling that an anti-abortion group should have been allowed to air ads during the final two months before the 2004 elections.

The case involved advertisements that Wisconsin Right to Life was prevented from broadcasting. 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.

Here’s the release Wisconsin Right to Life just sent out, explaining the ruling and its history. Better to understand what happened here and what was at stake.

“Today, the U.S. Supreme Court restored the right of citizens and citizen organizations to engage in grassroots lobbying through the use of broadcast communications,”  said Barbara Lyons, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life. “The Court soundly rejected the attempts by Senators McCain and Feingold and their allies to silence Wisconsin Right Life’s efforts to inform the public regarding an important issue pending in Congress and to urge citizens to contact their elected officials regarding that issue.  This is a tremendous victory for all citizens and citizen organizations.”

This is crucial for any organization that generates voter awareness and participation in the election process…..as informed participants. The bill would have critically stifled the grassroots ability through ‘alternative media’ to speak out, while liberal elite media would have their continued control of content and spin to influence voters. They still will, but these other organizations will be allowed a voice in campaign season as well. Which they should be. 

James Bopp, lead counsel for WRTL, states, “The Supreme Court has given meaning to its recognition, in McConnell, that there are ‘genuine issue ads,’ which incumbent politicians could not silence.  Grassroots lobbying is important to citizens involvement in their own government and it has nothing to do with elections.  The Court has now restored to the people the most effective means, broadcast ads, for efforts to influence incumbent politicians when they pass laws to tax and regulate us.”
 
Bopp adds, “Incumbent politicians have no constitutional authority to quash criticism of their conduct in office.  The American Revolution was fought, and the First Amendment enacted, precisely to protect the people’s right to criticize the government.  The Court today has rejected the audacious attempt by Senator McCain and his allies to overturn the First Amendment’s protection and empower incumbent politicians with the power to ban public criticism–even ban ads that contain no such criticism.”

Good public commentary and debate on the issues don’t have to direct voters toward or away from particular candidates as much as toward just causes. Here’s a brief background…

History of the case:
McCain-Feingold (the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 or “BCRA”) prohibited corporations and unions from using general funds for electioneering communications, which are essentially broadcast ads within 30 days of a primary and 60 days of a general election that simply mention the name of a federal candidate.  In 2003, the U. S. Supreme Court upheld the law on its face in McConnell v. FEC.
 
In July 2004, Wisconsin Right to Life began running grassroots lobbying ads asking Wisconsin citizens to call their Senators, Kohl and Feingold (then a candidate), and ask them to oppose the burgeoning filibusters of President Bush’s judicial nominees. 
 
Here is the text of one of those ads:  “There are a lot of judicial nominees out there who can’t go to work.  Their careers are put on hold because a group of Senators is filibustering–blocking qualified nominees from a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote.  It’s politics at work and it’s causing gridlock.  Contact Senators Feingold and Kohl and tell them to oppose the filibuster. Visit:  BeFair.org”
 
The BeFair.org website was specially created for the anti-filibuster campaign and contained information about the Senate confirmation process, the filibusters, federal courts, the judicial emergency caused by too few judges, and press releases about the anti-filibuster grassroots lobbying campaign.  The website set out the Senators’ positions on the filibusters, but contained no advocacy for or against either Senator as a candidate, no reference to the upcoming election and no statement urging the election or defeat of either Senator.

This is the year of the grassroots. The presidential candidates are going straight to the people like never before, through their websites, their hired bloggers, YouTube content, etc., in a much more direct outreach than ever. Grassroots activism is rising in importance and recognition, and this will help those voices be heard. It’s a victory for free speech.