Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. & McCain v. Wisconsin Right to Life
Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL) sued the Federal Election Commission (FEC) seeking a judgment that a portion of the 2002 Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) is unconstitutional as applied to three advertisements that WRTL intended to air in 2004. Senator McCain intervened in the action on the side of the FEC. Section 203 of BCRA prohibits WRTL from airing "electioneering" advertisements within thirty days of a federal primary and sixty days of a federal election. WRTL intended to air three advertisements encouraging voters to contact their senators—including one who was running for re-election—to tell them not to fillibuster President Bush's judicial nominees, but section 203 would have prevented it from doing so from August 15, 2004 until November 2, 2004.
A three judge panel of the district court held that section 203 violated WRTL's First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court accepted certiorari in 2005, and then remanded the case to the panel for reconsideration. On remand, the three judge panel concluded that the three ads were genuine issue ads that were neither express advocacy for a particular candidate nor its functional equivalent. It further found that Congress had not demonstrated a compelling interest in regulating genuine issue ads within thirty days of a federal primary and sixty days of a federal election.
Questions Presented:
Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.:
Whether the three-judge district court erred in holding that the federal statutory prohibition on a corporation’s use of general treasury funds to finance “electioneering communications” is unconstitutional as applied to three broadcast advertisements that appellee proposed to run in 2004.
McCain v. Wisconsin Right to Life :
Whether the three-judge district court erred in holding that Section 203 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), 2 U.S.C. § 441b, is unconstitutional as applied to the three advertisements that appellee Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. sought to broadcast in 2004.
