Will friends of freedom of speech catch a break this time?
Soon the U.S. Supreme Court will have another chance to rule that McCain-Feingold-style muzzling of political speech is heinously unconstitutional.
In September, before its regular new term begins, the high court will hear the case of Citizens United versus Federal Election Commission. This involves the standing of two rulings. One is a 1990 ruling banning corporate funding of political campaigns does not violate the First Amendment. A 2003 ruling upholds a ban on corporate speech that even utters the name of a political candidate.
Does the Constitution permit or prohibit stuffing gags in our mouths to prevent us from speaking out of turn? Supporters of Campaign Finance Repression like to say that they’re only regulating the spending of money, not speech. Of course, human beings lack the power to engage in mass long-range telepathy. The only speech that costs nothing is the kind you utter to somebody sitting next to you in the room. Would the regulators claim that limiting the money newspapers can spend on printing presses or websites leaves them with unencumbered “freedom of speech”?
The First Amendment is explicit. “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” You make a law abridging the means of speaking, and you are abridging freedom of speech.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
2 replies on “See: Amendment, First”
The only Supreme Court “upholding” of the grossly unconstitutional McCain-Feingold monstrosity that I could stomach would be a complete and total ban of all political advertising OUT of the print media — Personal appearances would be acceptable, print advertising, and that would be it. No extrapolations that the radio or the TV is part of “freedom of the press”, since they have upheld the FCC limitations as “legitimate” obviously the airwaves are not part of the “press”.
Unfortunately it is all an exercise in futility, the odds that the SC will actually make a lawfully and morally correct decision is only slightly better than the odds for any given lottery ticket to win the powerball.
The Obvious Attempt to Overthrow the “Sovereign government of America” is in the actions that are being perpetrated on “We the People”.
The Democrat and Republican Parties have been active in passing laws that restrict the input of the Sovereign government, “WE the People” by no allowing us to vote on issues of importance and not listening to the people.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH has been taken away from many for the benefit of the apparent corrupting influences at the recent ‘town hall’ meetings.
When meetings by our elected officials are held at times that make it hard for the working Americans to attend that is one form of violating the Freedom of Speech, selecting a small place to hold a meeting is another and the teleconferences is a form of select Freedom of Speech.
All of these point to the fact the our two parties want to control the citizens and deny “We the People” the right to be involved in the sovereign government that they are.