Constitutional Law

Supreme Court Considers FEC Censorship

The Supreme Court entertained oral argument today in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and 'seemed poised to create a new exception to federal power to regulate what advocacy groups can say during national political campaigns,' according to SCOTUSBlog.

Last year, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) blocked pay-per-view broadcasts of a film entitled 'Hillary: The Movie,' which NPR reports was 'a slashing critique of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton.' The Supreme Court has since been asked to review that censorship, with the conservative group that produced the film alleging that its First Amendment rights were violated as a result.

'When the argument turned to such First Amendment horrors as banning books, banning Internet expression, and banning even Amazon's book-downloading technology, ‘Kindle,' the members of the Court seemed instantly to recoil from the sweep of arguments made by Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm L. Stewart,' for the FEC, reported SCOTUSBlog's Lyle Denniston . 'Even Justice David H. Souter, who tends to support government regulation of campaign spending looked and sounded stunned.'

The issue before the court is whether the 90-minute film could be characterized more appropriately as a documentary or as a campaign attack ad warranting FEC regulation.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 24, 2009 (boomark / email).