Litigation

More Clamor, Delays in Citizens United

By Peter Hardin

An expectant clamor continues in the news media and among advocates awaiting a major campaign finance regulation decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.

As Gavel Grab reported a day ago, the stakes are potentially high–in part because a decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission could transform the political battlefield in 2010. On Wednesday, the last day that the Supreme Court was expected to issues opinions this week, it once again remained silent on the case.

The high court’s deliberate pace on this nail-biter–it was re-argued Sept. 9, before the regular court session began–didn’t keep the Cato Institute from announcing a Washington briefing Feb. 2 on the “new era in campaign finance legislation” ushered in by the decision. (If it has landed by then.)

Meanwhile Fox News published a report that the court was “Poised to Shake Up Campaign Finance Restrictions.” The Nation and also The National Journal published longer articles in anticipation of a decision. The First Amendment Center profiled Justice Clarence Thomas on the underlying issue in a piece entitled, “On campaign finance, there’s no doubting Thomas.”

Gavel Grab has chronicled this case for months, and you can learn more about it by clicking here for our posts. The high court has expanded the scope of the case, initially narrow and involving an anti-Hillary Clinton documentary, to ask whether to overturn a ban on direct spending from corporate and union treasuries  to support or oppose federal candidates. Justice at Stake, concerned about a potential flood of special-interest cash in state judicial elections, has filed an amicus brief with the court.

To learn more, see a JAS fact sheet on Citizens United, or a second fact sheet on the constitutionality of campaign finance laws.

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 13, 2010 (boomark / email).