Wisconsin Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, is fighting a federal law which bans groups from airing political advertisements 60 days before an election, citing its right to free speech.
Right to Life's attorney James Bopp Jr. said the group recently had a summary judgment motion Monday in front of a three-judge panel. The U.S. Supreme court gave the group permission in January to represent the case in the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court.
It is appealing the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, commonly known as the McCain-Feingold Act—it prohibits corporations and unions from airing advertisements within 60 days of a general election funded by unregulated donations.
The Nov. 7 election is 49 days away; therefore the ad cannot run. It features Wisconsin's Democratic Senators, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, who is up for re-election. The ad focuses on the Child Custody Protection Act, which makes it illegal for anyone besides a guardian to take a minor across state lines to receive an abortion.
According to Right to Life's executive director Barbara Lyons, the ad does not attack Kohl in his campaign, but simply gives the senator's contact information.
""The distinction we are trying to make is that our ad is just a grassroots lobbying forum and it should be allowed because it has nothing to do with an election,"" Lyons said.
The ad praises Kohl for voting in favor of the act—it is ""ridiculous"" to say this would negatively affect Kohl's campaign, Lyons claimed.
Joel Rivlin, the deputy director for the Wisconsin Advertising Project, a UW-Madison advertising research group, said the group genuinely wants to promote its cause, citing its first amendment rights.
However, Jay Heck, director of Common Cause Wisconsin, a non-partisan government reform group, said he thinks the group is trying to affect the election because mentioning Kohl's name must have an influence.
Heck added the law doesn't prohibit the group from running ads, but rather paying for them with undisclosed money.
""They have to abide by the same rules as candidates. They have to disclose the source of the money that pays for their political ads,"" Heck said. ""There is no reason why an ad being paid by Wisconsin Right to Life shouldn't state where the money comes from. What are they hiding?""
Heck said it is extremely unlikely the rule would be overturned because it would open the floodgates for unregulated money, damaging to the federal election process.
Though Bopp said he does not expect a decision to be made until after election season; if overturned, it would affect future campaigns.
