Posted on 06/25/2007 7:40:12 AM PDT by raccoonradio
It isn't legislation from the bench merely because the Court strikes down a law. Rather, when the law violates a plainly stated constitutional right like free speech, to not strike it down is legislating from the bench in the worst way. That is, the Court is usurping the legislature's power to amend the Constitution. Legislating from the bench generally takes the form of striking down legislation because of ambiguity or infringing on some invented Constitutional right.
This decision nullified the most clearly unconstitutional part of the McCain/Feingold bill. It stopped short of striking down the entire bill, so I don't think it was activist at all.
They were certainly short of great on this opinion. Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas wanted to strike down the 30/60 provision altogether, as it should be because it clearly regulates political speech. Roberts and Alito came down to the left, leaving the leaving the 30/60 provision intact where the issue ad calls for voters to vote against a candidate running for office.
And the ruling that taxpayers have no standing to challenge certain federal expenditures as unconsitutional was nothing short of an explicit federal government power grab.
That's true and government censorship doesn't stop with TV ads by the "evil corporations" as CNN says. McCain-Feingold even bans a group of friends from putting on an ad and this horrendous legislation can even be applied to Internet blogs. Even if "corporations" do put on adds ( I would like all the liberals to show me which ones) its not up to government politicians and bureaucrats to tell corporations what they can say or what they can't say. For government to tell corporations or anyone they have no right to speak is against freedom and freedom of speech, and it is a totalitarian, socialist, stalinist tactic used to silence critics so that the population can be enslaved.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1856299/posts
Supreme Court Sides With Pro-Life Group on Election Advertising Case LifeNews.com ^ | June 25, 2007 | Steven Ertelt Posted on 06/25/2007 9:11:43 PM PDT by monomaniac Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a victory for citizens groups like Wisconsin Right to Life, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the harsh restrictions placed on political ads just before elections are unconstitutional. The organization says the ban on the ads is an unconstitutional limit on free speech. The central question in the case is whether organizations like Wisconsin Right to Life can air legitimate grassroots lobbying ads within the blackout periods created by the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1856299/posts :
Supreme Court Sides With Pro-Life Group on Election Advertising Case LifeNews.com ^ | June 25, 2007 | Steven Ertelt Posted on 06/25/2007 9:11:43 PM PDT by monomaniac Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a victory for citizens groups like Wisconsin Right to Life, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the harsh restrictions placed on political ads just before elections are unconstitutional. The organization says the ban on the ads is an unconstitutional limit on free speech.
The whole thing was a federal power-grab. Time and time these justices have pointed to the supposedely unlimited authority of the Congress and Executive to spend, legislate, and create orders on a whim.
The only time they used the ACTUAL CONSTITUTION as a basis for their decision, is when a ton of PAC and lobbying money was at stake.
Everything else is a blunt legitimization of unrestricted government authority - as long as no one tries to legislate against the gravy train.
If they fine-tune it, tone it down, adjust it, etc. that's a problem.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.