Special court reinstates campaign finance law

The McCain-Feingold campaign-finance act is once again the law of the land after the special court that several weeks ago ruled much of the law unconstitutional blocked its ruling from taking effect yesterday, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The stay is a blow to political parties and groups such as the Republican National Committee, which had hoped to raise soft money for use in state elections in November.

But political-advocacy groups hailed the stay, which allows them to go ahead with television advertisements they had planned under McCain-Feingold rules but put on hold because of the initial court ruling.

In the immediate term, the stay means that groups such as the National Rifle Association can now run advertisements asking lawmakers to support a bill protecting gun manufacturers from some lawsuits, a matter the gun rights group had put on hold after the court’s May 2 ruling.

“The NRA got what it wanted, and it’s good as far as it goes,” said Cleta Mitchell, an attorney for the NRA. She said that because of the stay, “the NRA, I think, goes to the production studio, creates some ads and puts them on the air, and is, for at least a time, able to engage in citizen advocacy.”

The McCain-Feingold law, named after chief Senate sponsors John McCain, Arizona Republican, and Russell D. Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat, prohibits national political parties from raising or spending soft money, the uncapped donations used for organizational work and to pay for issue ads.

The law also prohibited interest groups from using soft money to run ads referring to a federal candidate within 60 days of a general election and within 30 days of a primary.

The special court, a three-judge federal panel formed to hear the case and compile a record for a Supreme Court appeal, ruled May 2 that both bans were partially unconstitutional.

In a 2-1 decision, the court ruled that parties can raise soft money and spend it for party building, but not for issue ads.

In a separate part of the decision, the panel ruled that although interest groups may run issue ads at any time, at no time can any such ad attack or defend a federal candidate.

The panel yesterday agreed with the bill’s sponsors and with the Federal Election Commission that the ruling be stayed, saying it would be unfair to have different sets of rules within the same election cycle.

Until the stay yesterday, there was the possibility of parties and candidates having to operate under three sets of rules — McCain-Feingold, the court’s new rules, and whatever passes muster with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Most parties were happy with the stay, as the law’s backers as well as opponents had objected to the decision.

But several plaintiffs who wanted the entire law overturned said the fact that a stay is considered a victory proves that the entire campaign-finance system has become too convoluted under McCain-Feingold and the court rulings.

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