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Monday, June 11, 2007

Ind. Law - "Bopp at the center of U.S., Indiana campaign finance cases"

The Crawfordsville JournalReview today publishes a story by Brian Howey on Terr Haute attorney James Bopp Jr. A quote from the story:

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule on a case that revolves around the type of ads an interest group can air during the “blackout” period 60 days before a general election and 30 days before a primary. The decision is expected by June 29. In the Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, the pro-life group ran television spots in 2004 urging Wisconsin voters to tell Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold not to block President Bush’s judicial nominations through a filibuster.

The problem is that the ads went up in the fall during the 60-day blackout period that was established by the 2002 campaign finance reform law -- a violation of the ban on election communications during that time frame, according to the FEC. The lawyer for Wisconsin Right to Life - Bopp - asserts that the ads constituted grassroots lobbying and should be protected as free speech.

“There’s no discussion about the election,” Bopp, a partner at Bopp, Coleson, Bostrom in Terre Haute, said. “It was about an upcoming vote in Congress. This ad was all about lobbying and not about an election, so it can’t be prohibited by campaign finance laws.”

During an intense, lively oral argument before the Supreme Court on April 25, Bopp was pressed by justices who questioned whether the timing and content of the ad were designed to influence the election — in violation of campaign finance reforms codified through the McCain-Feingold bill that Congress passed in 2002. The measure was authored by Feingold and Sen. John McCain.

“If we agree with you in this case, good-bye McCain-Feingold,” Justice Stephen Breyer told Bopp. “Maybe we should do it up front. That’s what you advocate.”

Here is a link to a Jan. 20, 2007 ILB entry, giving background prior to the oral argument.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 11, 2007 07:37 AM
Posted to Indiana Law