Today the United States Supreme Court decided that the United States Congress went too far five years ago in legislating restrictions on First Amendment rights.  In its ruling this morning in Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC, the Court righted that wrong.  It took an important first step toward restoring the rights of organizations to petition the government and members of Congress.

The court rejected an intent-and-effect test for advertisements and instead went with a susceptible of no other reasonable interpretation than an appeal to vote for or against a candidate.  However, and most importantly, in a debatable case the tie is resolved in favor of protecting speech.

As the Chief Justice noted in his decision for the majority: “Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not the censor.”

This entry was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Politics, Civil Rights .