An Anniversary to Forget

Published on December 10, 2006
by Brad Smith

File Under: Jurisprudence & Litigation, Other

Today marks the third anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in McConnell v. FEC, upholding in most all respects the McCain-Feingold law regulating political speech.

The law itself has been in place for four years, and seems to have accomplished little or nothing of value in that time.  The McConnell decision already seems dated and tired.  The narrow majority that supported it on the Court has disappeared;  Justice Breyer's cavalier dismissal at oral argument of the notion that the law would not prohibit George Soros and others from spending millions has been proven laughably incorrect.  The primary effect of the law on politics has been to further embroil campaigns in legal allegations, and to give the parties tools they can use as partisan weapons, as in the Republicans' lengthy effort to use the law to silence Democratic leaning "527" groups.  The Court has already begun to move away from McConnell with its decision last term in Randall v. Sorrell, striking down Vermont's spending and contribution limits. 

Shortly after McConnell was handed down, I wrote, "Historically, decisions that sharply curtail civil librties, as does McConnell, have not stood well the test of time, and are looked upon as black moments in the Court's history."  I believe that this process is already underway with the flacid McConnell decision.  One of our goals here at CCP will be to hurry the process along.

Happy Anniversary, McConnell v. FEC.  May your life be deservedly short.