Milwaukee, Wis., Jul 28, 2004 / 22:00 pm
In an effort to defend its freedom of speech and run an advertising campaign as a grass-roots organization, Wisconsin Right to Life (WRL) filed suit yesterday against the Federal Election Commission in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The suit requests an injunction to allow WRL to run anti-filibuster grass-roots lobbying ads into a broadcast ban blackout period.
The WRL ad campaign in question asks citizens to contact Senators Russell Feingold and Herbert Kohl and to urge them to oppose the filibustering of President Bush's judicial nominees.
However, under the provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, more commonly known as McCain-Feingold, WRL is prohibited from airing its media campaign, because it names Sen. Feingold - who is running for re-election - within 30 days prior to the primary election on Sept. 14 and then within 60 days prior to the general election.