Supreme Court looks at campaign ad law

WASHINGTON -- A recast and clearly divided Supreme Court took a fresh look at campaign-finance reform Wednesday.

With two new conservative justices on board, the court has changed since a narrowly decided 2003 ruling upheld an ambitious campaign-reform law. Sharp questions Wednesday morning revealed that some of the law's restrictions on pre-election ads could now be on shaky ground.

"This is the First Amendment," Justice Antonin Scalia said during the hourlong oral argument. "We don't make people guess when their speech is going to be allowed by Big Brother or not."

The law bans corporations and unions from directly financing campaign ads during blackout periods before primaries and general elections. The court's 2003 decision said this ban, on its face, didn't infringe on free-speech rights.

Now the court is considering specific examples of how the pre-election ad ban has been applied.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who wasn't on the court during the 2003 decision, shared Scalia's obvious skepticism about the ad restrictions. At one point, Roberts spoke derisively of regulations that "censor the speech" of citizens.

Signed by President Bush in 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act blocks unions and corporations from using general funds to pay for "electioneering communications." This means ads that refer to a "clearly identified candidate" for federal office, 60 days before a general election or 30 days before a primary.

Pre-election ads focusing strictly on issues, though, can be corporately funded. The question now is whether three radio and TV ads briefly run by Wisconsin Right to Life in 2004 were legitimate issue ads or something sneakier.

The anti-abortion group was urging Wisconsin residents to persuade Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl not to filibuster Bush's conservative judge nominees. Feingold co-authored the campaign-finance law, along with Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

A ruling is expected before the court adjourns in June.