Justices return pro-life ad case to lower court
- Feb 15, 2006
The Supreme Court returned a case pitting a Wisconsin pro-life organization against the 2002 federal campaign finance reform law to a lower court Jan. 23.
The justices issued a three-page opinion only six days after oral arguments in the case, saying the federal court incorrectly interpreted a portion of their earlier opinion about the law. While the high court upheld the law as a whole in 2003, it did not rule applications of the law were free from challenges, the justices said in their ruling. The Supreme Court’s new opinion vacated the federal court’s earlier ruling and ordered it to consider the arguments of Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL).
The pro-life organization challenged a controversial part of the law that restricts advertisements by advocacy groups shortly before elections. After the high court upheld the entire law—known as McCain-Feingold after its main sponsors, Sens. John McCain, R.-Ariz., and Russell Feingold, D.-Wis., the Wisconsin pro-life organization sued the Federal Election Commission in the hope the courts would find the advertising ban unconstitutional in cases of issue ads that are designed to influence legislation, not elections.
A WRTL ad in question involved Feingold during his 2004 re-election bid, which was successful. The ad encouraged calls to Feingold and Wisconsin’s other senator, Democrat Herb Kohl, asking them to oppose filibusters of President Bush’s judicial nominees.
The campaign reform law bars labor unions and corporations from including a candidate’s name in ads 30 days before a primary election and 60 days before a general election. The provision also has been applied to non-profit advocacy organizations, such as WRTL.
When the Supreme Court upheld McCain-Feingold, ERLC President Richard Land called it “a disaster for Americans’ First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech.”
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