Supreme Court Overturns Decision Barring Wisconsin Anti-Abortion Ads

Great news from the Supreme Court yesterday:

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Monday that a lower court should take a new look at a challenge to federal restrictions on political advertisements, delaying a major ruling on the constitutionality of ad limits until after this year's elections.

Justices could have used the case, brought by an anti-abortion group, to spell out when so-called grass-roots ads are allowed at election time.

Without dealing with that issue, the court overturned a decision that barred Wisconsin Right to Life from broadcasting ads that mentioned a senator during his 2004 re-election campaign.

In an unsigned opinion, justices said that the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling upholding a federal campaign finance law left the door open for future challenges that the law, in practice, violated free-speech rights.

"This could be an important first step toward undermining (the 2003 ruling) without overruling it," said Richard Hasen, an election law expert at Loyola Law School.

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My Comments:
Wow! This one's like a double-stuff Oreo. A pro-life victory coupled with a victory for the 1st Amendment against the pernicious McCain-Feingold law.