Free Political Speech Making a Comeback

Political free speech, which took a near mortal blow with the passing of the McCain-Feingold restrictions on political advertising, has made a bit of a comeback thanks to this court decision:

A federal court on Thursday loosened restrictions on corporations, unions and other special interest groups that run political advertising in peak election season.
The 2-1 ruling said groups may mention candidates by name in commercials as long as they are trying to influence public policy, rather than sway an election.

The ruling came in a challenge to the so-called McCain-Feingold law designed to reduce the influence of big money in political campaigns. The law banned groups from using unrestricted money to run advertisements that name candidates two months before a general election or one month before a primary.

Wisconsin Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, has been fighting the law since 2004, when it sought to run an advertisement urging voters to contact Wisconsin Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, both Democrats, and ask them not to hold up President Bush's judicial nominees.

Because Feingold was running for re-election in 2004, the ad was prohibited. Wisconsin Right to Life argued that it wasn't trying to influence an election and said the law restricted its constitutional right to petition the government.

It's about time a court woke up and realized that McCain-Feingold has some serious issues and is in my view, clearly unconstitutional. Let's hope the appeal to the Supremes will yield further lessening of the M-F restrictions.