Sparks At SCOTUS Over Campaign Finance Reform
Campaign Finance Reform was a law that went down in infamy. Is the Supreme Court becoming the only branch of the government with sense today?
Justices hit campaign fund curbs
A majority of Supreme Court justices sharply challenged a central element of federal election law Wednesday, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. taking the lead in aggressively questioning whether long-standing restrictions on corporate and union campaign spending run afoul of the First Amendment right to free speech.
…the chief justice was unrelenting in his exchanges with new Solicitor General Elena Kagan, calling elements of the law “extraordinarily paternalistic” and comparing the Federal Election Commission’s role in regulating campaign spending to that of Big Brother.
“We don’t put our First Amendment rights in the hands of FEC bureaucrats,” the chief justice said….
Election-law analysts have been predicting that the case will pose a serious threat to existing campaign-finance rules and could undercut a central piece of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, also known as the McCain-Feingold law after its Senate co-sponsors. The court under Chief Justice Roberts has twice struck down small portions of the law. Going into Wednesday’s arguments, many viewed this broader challenge as an uphill battle for Ms. Kagan, who argued the case on behalf of the Obama administration’s Justice Department….
Some interesting vignettes!
Mr. McCain, walking briskly down the court’s marble steps after the hearing, called the tenor of the justices’ remarks “very disturbing.”…
Theodore B. Olson, who represented Citizens United, said Ms. Kagan’s acknowledgment demonstrated that the laws are so muddled that his client would have no way of knowing whether the disputed ads represented constitutionally protected speech or would leave the group open to prosecution.
Justice Sotomayor seemed almost immediately to be in the minority in her debut case.*
After last night’s speech do you need a little hope for a change?
Court watchers say the outcome will hinge on the opinions of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, whose views on campaign-finance law have not been clear in prior cases. Justice Alito replaced Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who had served as the decisive fifth vote in fending off several challenges to the McCain-Feingold law.
But any thought that either justice could step in and save the law appeared to evaporate as they hammered away at the positions taken by government attorneys.
Ben Ginsberg, a veteran campaign lawyer, said after the session ended, “I think they are pretty unsympathetic to the notion of keeping the statute the way it is.”
For those of you who raised a ruckus over the idea that Gonzales might be nominated to SCOTUS and during the Miers nomination, aren’t you glad you did?
Now we have Roberts and Alito!
May they live long and prosper!
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*Why am I not surprised????
H/T: Washington Times, Star Trek 
!
[1]
This will be big if it goes our way.
[2]
Oh pretty please with a cherry on top please do what should have happened 8 years ago and finally knock down this legislation, and don’t do it in a limited way, waste the whole thing, and let congress try again if they dare.
[3]
Remember, McCain was the one who said “If you give me a choice between so called ‘first amendment rights’ and clean government, I’d rather have the clean government.
Excuse me? The first amendment is not negotiable senator. In fact none of them are, particularly the first 10.
This was a huge travesty, the two precedents he cites. Horrible rulings, akin to Kelo v. New London, another jaw dropper…
Remember, McCain is a progressive, he believes he is above the law, and he also believes the left are his friend. Our duty as citizens is to listen to his words from on high, then be courteous and obey.
[4]
Breaking: Acorn just fired the two employees involved in the video shown today.
[5]
And we sure did get clean government as a result of McCain-Feingold, didn’t we?
Didn’t we?
[6]
Color me shocked.
Sorry fellows. ACORN is a crime family, and is going down.
[7]
Crazy John in all his bipartisan glory:
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Who is lining up to challenge McCain in AZ?
[9]
Yahoo, John Mc is not crazy, he is an elitist. You are supposed to just listen to him and shut up. You Yahoo.
[10]
They are going to knock this down, all of it. heh. Sorry McCain. Now lose your primary and switch parties.
[11]
“Who is lining up to challenge McCain in AZ?”
Pratically nobody. MAC will get re elected for the last time in 2010.
Then JonS haddeg takes over!!
[12]
“Now lose your primary and switch parties.”
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Hahah could you imagine the outrage, unlike spector I don’t think it would remotely work out for him. That said I can’t actually see him doing that, maybe pulling an lieberman and going independent but don’t think he would flip dem.
[13]
What if he were do say… fall ill?
[14]
FINALLY…CHANGE WE CAN ALL BELIEVE IN!!!
[15]
Forced resignations you can believe in.
[16]
Kyl and McCain are two sellouts in the mold of Hatch and Bennett. Far less conservative than their electorates.
McCain does not deserve his seat, why would the voters send this elitist old geezer back again? The last term should have been enough to teach them a lesson. I guess old habits die hard.
[17]
Why would anyone vote for a Senator that openly mocks the first amendment, and has the dubious honor of having his career signature legislation overturned by SCOTUS?
Only Democrats seem to warrant this sort of public rebuke and humiliation.
Oh and John McCain.
[18]
Well, it is about time. Too bad one of those old geezers did not kick off during Bush’s term. We may have had a conservative majority for our lifetimes. Or not? Would his third pick be another Roberts or Alito or Harriet Miers.
[19]
…and now I have to pray that none of the old geezers kick the bucket for at least 4 years.