Trial lawyers defending the first amendment
Published Sun, Feb 17 2008 11:23 AM
Technorati Tags: Elections, Courts, Constitution
Could trial lawyers do what the Senate, the House of Representatives, the President and the Supreme Court all failed to do? Could they defend, and even restore our rights under the First Amendment?
A new lawsuit could unleash a late surge of multimillion-dollar contributions in this fall's presidential race by allowing independent groups to use large gifts to run advertisements directly attacking and promoting candidates. A group seeking to unseat lawmakers who support strict campaign finance regulation, SpeechNow.org, filed a lawsuit yesterday to block the Federal Election Commission from enforcing the $5,000 limit that generally applies to an individual's contribution to a political action committee.
The executive director of SpeechNow, David Keating, said the cap violates the First Amendment. He pointed to court rulings that individuals have the right to spend unlimited amounts on political ads as long as there is no coordination with candidates or their campaigns.
"Everyone agrees that one person can spend as much as he or she wants to say anything about any candidate. So why can't two?" Mr. Keating asked at a news conference yesterday.
Imagine that. A Lawsuit to restore the First Amendment to supremacy. John McCain must be spinning in his… limousine.
…The group's central argument is that the usual justification for campaign finance laws, namely the desire to avoid real or apparent corruption, does not apply when individuals band together to speak while keeping a distance from any candidates.
…
Mr. Ortiz said the lawsuit, which could end up at the Supreme Court, is a logical step for those seeking to undermine campaign finance laws. "It's not a stupid move on their part, because the membership of the court has changed," he said.
The timing for this couldn't be worse for the Senator from Arizona, especially if this rises to prominence in the news. Still, the sooner our right to freedom of political speech, including issue advocacy in the 60 day run-up before an election is restored the better for us all.
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