derek bomar wrote:
majorspark wrote:
Yes. But congress passing a law forcing them to use a PAC to do it, so limited their rights to redress the government for their grievences against it. Basically the PAC process is so restrictive and laborious it indirectly takes the right away.
To think that congress could pass a law, that orders groups like the Sierra Club/NRA from running ads 60 days prior to an election (the critcal stage). Can be interpretted no other way than political censorship by congress.
I don't really agree - what you have in bold is "and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"...I still say they could have done this prior to the SCOTUS ruling. It doesn't say anywhere in the constitution how those grievances should be heard, just that Congress can't pass laws restricting someones ability to present them. They could still present them (albeit you have to jump through the extra hoop of a PAC) prior to the ruling. Nowhere in the constitution does it say that we need to provide the "
easiest way for corporations or individuals to have their grievances heard"...only that laws can't be passed restricting ones ability to do so...it's up to interpretation as to whether the PAC process actually restricted anyone from lobbying their case...which seems to be fairly obvious it hasn't, seeing as how lobbyists spending has been through the roof this past year. Now I don't know a ton about PAC's, but were corporations limited to how much they could contribute to them, or when they could contribute to them, prior to this ruling?
Justice Kennedy
Section 441b is a ban on corporate speech notwithstanding the fact that a PAC [Political Action Committee] created by a corporation can still speak. See McConnell, 540 U.S.,at 330–333 (opinion of KENNEDY, J.). A PAC is a separate association from the corporation. So the PAC exemption from §441b’s expenditure ban, §441b(b)(2), does not allow corporations to speak. Even if a PAC could somehow allow a corporation to speak – and it does not – the option to form PACs does not alleviate the First Amendment problems with §441b. PACs are burdensome alternatives; they are expensive to administer and subject to extensive regulations. For example, every PAC must appoint a treasurer, forward donations to the treasurer promptly, keep detailed records of the identities of the persons making donations, preserve receipts for three years, and file an organization statement and report changes to this information within 10 days. See id., at 330–332 (quoting MCFL, 479 U.S., at 253– 254).
Since the constitution protects individuals as well as groups/corperations equally, it is wrong for congress to force groups to be subject to a different set of rules. (In bold) I would say that I agree that to subjuct one group of people to this laborius process, in effect deny's them their right to redress the government.
What if congress passed similar legislation that governed the press in a similar manner? Lets say the press would have to join a Press Action Committee in order to enjoy their freedom of the press. After all "big press" can heavily influence an election. They would have to give detailed records of the identities of their journalists to a fedral regulatory agency. They would be limited to how many journalist they could employ by the federal government. They would also be limited to how many papers/magazines they could print. Or how many hours per week they could broadcast. Also no press outlet could broadcast any political material/editorials 60 days prior to an election.
As to your question on limits on contributions.
Under federal election laws, PACs can legally contribute only $5,000 to a candidate committee per election (primary, general or special). They can also give up to $15,000 annually to any national party committee, and $5,000 annually to any other PAC. However, there is no limit to how much PACs can spend on advertising in support of candidates or in promotion of their agendas or beliefs. PACs must register with and file detailed financial reports of monies raised and spent to the Federal Election Commission.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/aboutpacs.htm
