I think the ad-ban is an infrigement of free speech, but I’d never thought of the angle Judge Alito brought up.
Suppose a Senator running for re-election introduces a controversial bill within 60 days of election day? Would it be illegal for interest groups to run contact-that-senator ads? I never thought of that. This law basically gives senators a free-from-criticism period to pass laws without the public being notified.
Alito is the fifth vote.
We already had Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas & Roberts on this one.
We win 5-4.
the timing is ‘suspcious’ ... think about the Dan Rather TANG report brilliantly exposed here on FR by Buckhead. That was aired September 8, 2004; the election was within 60 days.
Had the fraud not been exposed, there would have been no way for any pro-Bush organization to combat it. What if it had been intended solely as a trial balloon before the media, which is unaffected by CFR, really got going on that issue?
To me, the worst aspect of the nefarious CFR is its exclusion of the media from any restrictions, while tying the hands of advocacy groups.