This is a big week, because the “Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002” gets underway on Wednesday. This is a direct assault on the First Amendment’s free speech clause, particularly when it has to do with political speech before an election. This is a huge, huge case – and a huge example of what I’m talking about.
What you have here is the Incumbent Protection Act of 2001. It’s designed to make it tougher for challengers to win, because incumbents can just throw a presser and get media time. It’s amazing how far this has gone. We covered all the assaults on it, and have immortalized the assault on the First Amendment it represents in the Essential Stack of Stuff articles below. The administration, and Solicitor General Ted Olson, will have to defend this in court.