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.

Another victory in support of free and fair elections for Ohio voters!   U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley ordered Ohio county boards of elections to preserve the ballots of the 2004 election to be saved until further notice.  Is the tide beginning to turn in Ohio?  Let's hope so.  However, voters still face the huge hurdle of HB 3's new voter ID requirements, which are so confusing and detrimental to the voting process as to be considered a voter suppression strategy by critics.  With two positive court decisions in favor of the public interest, there is a renewed interest in possibly litigating these draconian ID requirements.

More drama surrounding Blackwell's campaign for governor, and the third party ads in support of his candidacy appeared today.  Democrats have brought an action in the state Supreme Court asking that the group sponsoring the ads, Common Sense 2006, be required to disclose its backers, "a case reminiscent of a 2000 battle over ads against one of Ohio's justices." Common Cause/OH and The Alliance for Democracy  brought that suit, which after being litigated for five years in every court, state and federal, finally got a favorable ruling, that the group sponsoring the ads was a PAC, and corporate contributors had to be disclosed.