The Supreme Court heard arguments today in Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC, a challenge to the provision in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA, or the McCain-Feingold law) restricting special interest groups from using general funds to run "issue ads" in the days before an election.

More information about this provision and Common Cause's response to this challenge can be found here.  Countless organizations on both sides of the issue have signed onto amicus briefs, including Common Cause, and even the editorial boards have weighed in (here and here, for example) - but we'll have to wait until probably June before hearing their decision.

The big question marks, as in a lot of the cases now coming before the Court, are new Justices Roberts and Alito.  Common Cause was the leading force behind the substantive campaign finance reform that grew into BCRA, so we're paying very close attention to this situation and will, of course, keep you updated on how it develops.

Granny D - Doris Haddock - is a grandmother from New Hampshire who felt so passionately about the need for campaign finance reform and citizens having their voices heard in the political process that she walked 3,200 miles in support of campaign finance reform in 1999.

Granny D is now 96 years old and her trek from Pasadena, Calif., to Washington DC in 1999 is the subject of a 30-minute documentary that chronicles her extraordinary journey and will air on PBS stations in October.

Here is the list of stations and times when the program will air: