Wisconsin Right to Life had its day in Court Wednesday. The US Supreme Court.
The high court's ruling, due in late June, could decide if parts of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law are unconstitutional. Specifically, the section that addresses issue ads.
The justices heard oral arguments in the Federal Election Commission vs. Wisconsin Right to Life case. Right to Life's Barbara Lyons, who was in the court, said the debate was more intense than expected and centered on the concept of grassroots lobbying.
Right to Life claims the ads it wanted to run during the election cycle in 2004 were just that, a grassroots lobbying effort to stop a senate filibuster on judicial appointments.
But the ads violated McCain-Feingold because Senator Russ Feingold was up for election then and his name was mentioned in the ads.
Lyons hopes the justices will set a standard for what's a grassroots effort to petition the government and what's considered a political issue ad. She argues it's a matter of free speech.
During arguments, Justice Stephen Breyer laid out what's at stake in a comment to the Wisconsin group's lawyer. "If we agree with you in this case, goodbye McCain-Feingold.".
