Campaign Finance Cases Weighed

The Washington Post ^ | March 1, 2006 | Charles Lane

[libstripper]

The Supreme Court returned to the battle over campaign finance yesterday, hearing oral argument on a Vermont law that sharply limits how much money state candidates can raise and spend.

It is the first political-money issue to come before the court since Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. replaced Sandra Day O'Connor, who had generally supported campaign finance laws against charges that they abridge free speech. Alito's views are less clear.

The three cases the court consolidated into yesterday's single argument are significant because part of the Vermont law, the limits on spending by candidates, were adopted to force the Supreme Court to revisit its 1976 ruling in Buckley v. Valeo . That precedent says that contribution limits are constitutional but spending limits are not.

[libstripper]

Here's the Washington Post's story about yesterday's Vermont CFR case. It looks more and more like SCOTUS may come down on the side of the angels.

[Mogollon]

Here is hoping that CFR gets the boot by SCOTUS. It's not only the constitutional thing to do it will be a blast watching John McCain whining on every lib network that interviews him.