McCain-Feingold Eviscerated

This afternoon, the Supreme Court ruled that an antiabortion in Wisconsin should have been permitted to air its ads within 60 days of a federal election. Citing free speech rights, the court's 5-4 conservative majority struck down McCain-Feingold's prohibition on ads that mention an officeholders name, the kind that say, "Call Senator Leghorn and tell him to oppose...." "Discussion of issues cannot be suppressed simply because the issues may also be pertinent in an election," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. "Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not the censor."More specific advocacy ads that endorsed a candidate would still be prohibited but there's now huge wiggle room for labor and business groups to make ads next year. This could have a huge impact starting soon, now that the primary calendar has been altered to allow large states to vote earlier and eaeerlier. Of course, many aspects of McCain-Feingold remain in place including its strict limit on so-called soft money donations to parties. But the law that was so long advocated to stem the influence of money in politics has been effictiely eviscerated. When the NRA and the ACLU cheer a ruling like this, you know everyone's getting their checkbooks out.