On December 21, a 3-judge U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., ruled that the McCain-Feingold law is unconstitutional when it is applied in certain situations. The case is Wisconsin Right to Life v FEC, civ 04-1260. The vote was 2-1.
In this particular case, the McCain-Feingold law made it illegal for Wisconsin Right to Life, a corporation, to run broadcast ads (paid for out of its Corporate treasury) within 60 days of an election if that ad mentions a candidate for Congress.
In this instance, the ad Wisconsin Right to Life wanted to run merely asked listeners to ask both their U.S. Senators to oppose any filibuster of any judicial nominees. The ad made no mention of the fact that one of Wisconsin’s U.S. Senators was running for re-election.
Judges Richard Leon and David Sentelle signed the majority opinion. They said this particular ad clearly is not a campaign ad. Since the U.S. Supreme Court had said in 2003 that “as applied” challenges to McCain-Feingold should be permitted, they accepted that invitation. The dissenting judge, Richard W. Roberts, said that the case is not yet ready for summary judgment and that a trial should have been held to ascertain the true motivations of the people who wrote and paid for the ad.
This ruling is good news for Unity.08. Another portion of the McCain-Feingold law, not at issue in this case, made it illegal for individuals to give large sums of money to political parties that engage in federal campaign activity. When the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold law was argued in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003, that Court said that if the McCain-Feingold law injures new and minor parties, that an as-applied challenge could also be made in the future to that part of the McCain-Feingold law. Now that one court (the 3-judge U.S. District Court in D.C.) has already ruled that McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional in certain situations, it should be easier for Unity.08 to bring its own lawsuit, alleging that McCain-Feingold, as applied to a new party, is also unconstituitonal. Unity.08 is currently handicapped by an FEC ruling that says no one may give it more than $5,000.
Hello Richard,
Romney has got it! Your going to see both McCain and Guiliani legislation has always targeted minorities. I think your research should take a more indepth look at the pattern of legislation created by the two.
Actually, Mark, no one yet has a wrap on the 2008 Republican presidential nomination (not that it will be worth much anyway).
Senator McCain is clearly the front runner at the moment; however, we all know how those things tend to turn out. Mr. Guiliani is in a very good position. He is riding high in the polls and John McCain’s pro-war positions are quite likely to backfire on him, more and more, as time goes on. Guiliani has great appeal to the fiscal conservatives in the GOP who are opposed to the religious right (and there are a lot of them). At this time, I would say that candidates like Mitt Romney and Sam Brownback are dark horse candidates (who may or may not break out of the pack).
Neiter McCain or Guiliani will win the Republican nomination for President. These two candidates are more popular with the general public then they are to their own party. McCain-Feingold is clearly not popular in the Republican Party, and Guiliani is pro-life, which plays better in the east and west coasts than it does in the Replublican heartland.
Both candidates are considered RINOs (Republican in Name Only)
As a Libertarian voter, McCain is a horrible candidate and I am undecided with Guiliani. But since I am not a member of the Republican party, my vote doesn’t count in their primary.
Well, Robert, I never said anything about either of those two candidates actually winning the nomination. I do think, though, that Rudy Guiliani has more appeal to fiscal conservatives (who are not of the religious right) in the Republican Party than most people are aware of right now. It is too early to tell who is going to take home the “prize.”
The Republican nomination for president will not be worth much anyway. The GOP is an idea whose time has come and gone. There will never be another Republican President of the United States. Bye, bye to imperialism (R.I.P.: 1860 to 2006)!