Appeal on electioneering blackout
on May 12, 2006 at 4:27 pm
A Maine group that is working to stop same-sex marriage appealed to the Supreme Court on Friday, asking for a prompt ruling on its right to broadcast advertisements about that issue during the federal primary election season in Maine, now underway. The jurisdictional statement was filed in Christian Civic League of Maine, Inc., v. Federal Election Commission, et al. It was docketed as 05-1447. The jurisdictional statement can be found here. The link includes the lower court ruling being challenged.
This blog’s earlier post on the three-judge U.S. District Court ruling in this case can be found here
The appeal raised the following question:
“Whether the District Court erred in denying a preliminary injunction to allow the Christian Civic League of Maine to continue broadcasting grass roots lobbying advertisements during the electioneering communications prohibition imposed by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, codified at 2 U.S.C. sec. 441(b), and in particular:
“(a) whether the prohibition is narrowly tailored to a compelling governmental interest as applied to the League’s proposed advertisements or violates the constitutional rights to free expression, association, and petition;
“(b) whether the prohibition is narrowly tailored to a compelling governmental interest as applied to genuine grass roots lobbying generally or violates the constitutional rights to free expression, association, and petition;
“(c) whether the League meets the requirements for a preliminary injunction by being denied the opportunity to use corporate funds for its proposed communication.”
The League asked the Court to expedite the case, and proposed a briefing schedule, with the FEC to file its opposition next Wednesday, May 17, and the League to file its reply by next Friday, May 19. It asked the Court to set the case for oral argument “as expeditiously as possible.”
The Court is not expected to act on the case until next week, perhaps after the FEC replies to the motion to expedite.
(Thanks to Skeptic’s Eye, via Rick Hasen’s Election Law blog, for a link to the jurisdictional statement.)
