trebblekicked
Dec 11, 2003, 08:33 AM
NY Times Article (requires subscription) (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/10/national/10CND-SCOT.html?hp)
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 — The Supreme Court handed down today the most important ruling in a generation on the place of money in politics, upholding a law that bars national parties from raising huge amounts of unregulated "soft money" that many people say has corrupted the American political process.
A 5-to-4 majority upheld most provisions of the McCain-Feingold Law, finding that the law's ban on soft-money donations was not an unconstitutional curb on free speech, as its opponents have argued, but rather a legitimate response to perceptions that big money has stained the political system.
The court also upheld two other pillars of the law: a ban on the solicitation of soft money by federal candidates, and a prohibition against political advertisements by special interest groups in the weeks just before an election.
an important moment in american politics to say the least. IMO, the slim majority shows that the system is damn close to completely falling apart, but at least there are a handful of people in charge that recognize the true problems that arise when money and politics get together
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 — The Supreme Court handed down today the most important ruling in a generation on the place of money in politics, upholding a law that bars national parties from raising huge amounts of unregulated "soft money" that many people say has corrupted the American political process.
A 5-to-4 majority upheld most provisions of the McCain-Feingold Law, finding that the law's ban on soft-money donations was not an unconstitutional curb on free speech, as its opponents have argued, but rather a legitimate response to perceptions that big money has stained the political system.
The court also upheld two other pillars of the law: a ban on the solicitation of soft money by federal candidates, and a prohibition against political advertisements by special interest groups in the weeks just before an election.
an important moment in american politics to say the least. IMO, the slim majority shows that the system is damn close to completely falling apart, but at least there are a handful of people in charge that recognize the true problems that arise when money and politics get together
