ATP to appeal Montana high court ruling to U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – American Tradition Partnership Executive Director Donald Ferguson released the statement below Thursday afternoon. ATP will be represented by lead attorney James Bopp of the James Madison Center for Free Speech.
“American Tradition Partnership will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Montana state Supreme Court’s incorrect and contemptuous ruling last week.
“We, and impartial legal scholars, are confident these unbiased courts will uphold the First Amendment rights of Montanans to speak freely about powerholders.
“To ban political speech based on nothing more than the identity of the speaker is to strike at the very heart of the God-given rights protected by the First Amendment. Those politicians who seek to stop Montanans from associated and speaking freely are themselves the modern equivalent of the Copper Kings, who in their time perverted law and justice to suppress voices of opposition to their policies.”
Mainstream media corporations are the ultimate super pacs and they are exempt from campaign laws.
From 1791 to 1886 1st Amendment freedoms of speech, press and assembly were the sole rights of flesh and blood citizens.
From 1886 to 1973 flesh and blood citizens and media corporations enjoyed equal freedoms of speech and the press.
From 1974 to present only the commercial media enjoy unrestricted freedom of speech and the press. Following reports of serious financial abuses in the 1972 Presidential campaign, Congress amended the FECA in 1974 to set limits on contributions by individuals, political parties and PACs.
2 USC 431 (9) (B) (i) The term “expenditure” does not include any news story, commentary, or editorial distributed through the facilities of any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, unless such facilities are owned or controlled by any political party, political committee, or candidate;
And what is the difference between slanted news stories or editorial opinions and political ads anyway?
The media’s crocodile tears about the evils of money in politics is so hypocritical. Distributing political ads to the masses is the biggest expense of political campaigns. If the media were to carry political ads, as a public service, it would greatly reduce the need for money in politics! But corporate media are the recipient of billions of dollars in campaign ads.
[...] lead plaintiff in the case has already declared its intention to appeal the Montana decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. As the two dissenting justices in the Montana [...]