Free speech battle pits incumbents against citizens

April 11, 2002

WASHINGTON, DC/ATLANTA: Fresh from yesterday's announcement of 24 new plaintiffs and an expanded legal team entering the lawsuit filed by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Southeastern Legal Foundation today ripped congressional supporters of McCain-Feingold/Shays-Meehan as "the enemies of the First Amendment."

"Yesterday's U.S. House vote derailing even the simplest streamlining for tax disclosure for so-called 527 advocacy groups proves that federal elected officials supporting so-called 'campaign finance reform' are intent on silencing critics who may affect their re-election," said Phil Kent, President of SLF, which serves as co-counsel and plaintiff in the McConnell omnibus lawsuit. "McCain-Feingold/Shays-Meehan and their legion of supporters in Congress are lapdogs of government coercion against our most fundamental right -- the right to publicly criticize our government."

"At this juncture, most Americans are unaware that basic rights affecting their lives are threatened by politicians seeking incumbency protection," said Kent. "Shays-Meehan creates a new crime of incitement to political action, punishable by jail time and hefty fines. Not since the Alien and Sedition Act has freedom of speech and association been under such direct assault."

Kent noted that, despite the fact that 24 organizations and individuals representing organizations across the ideological spectrum, including the American Civil Liberties Union, SLF, and other organizations with tens of millions of members and supporters across the nation, joined the legal challenge yesterday against free speech gags, "the fact remains that power has corrupted the single most important duty of federal elected officials -- to preserve, protect and defend the U.S. Constitution."

"We are not yet without voice, as demonstrated by our access to the courts as a last line of defense," said Kent. "However, if left unchecked, federal lawmakers will continue to act on what congressional attorneys reviewing Shays-Meehan described as 'a dangerous perception that the First Amendment is a loophole that must be closed.'"

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