The judges get one right

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 — A three-judge panel on Thursday overturned a key segment of the campaign finance law that banned issue advertisements paid for by corporate or union money in the critical weeks before federal elections.

The case, which was heard by a special federal court panel in Washington, now heads to the Supreme Court. If upheld, the ruling would unravel one of the tougher restrictions on the use of unregulated donations that interest groups pumped by the millions of dollars into political commercials.

The case was brought by Wisconsin Right to Life, which has been fighting the restrictions since 2004, claiming they infringe on its First Amendment guarantee of free speech, among other grounds.

Unfortunatly this is not an outright overturning of the odious McCain-Feingold law. However if the Supreme Court upholds the panel's decision it will represent a serious erosion of the law.

McCain-Feingold for all intents and purposes repealed the free speech part of the First Amendment, at least as far as political speech goes in the time just before an election (the time when it really matters).

With luck we can tear this legislative turd down on brick at a time.