Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act: Silencing Nonprofit Groups and Stealth
The
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002--also known as "BCRA" or "McCain-Feingold" for its principal Senate sponsors--constituted the first major change to the nation's campaign finance laws since 1979.
Title I of the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act not only prohibits national political parties from raising soft money, it also prohibits state and local political parties from spending soft money on so-called "federal election activity." The government argued that these restrictions were necessary because of "abundant record evidence that describes a systemic exchange of large soft-money donations for access to federal officeholders, through arrangements brokered by the parties." (3)
In a 5-to-4 decision as we went to press, the Supreme Court upheld nearly all the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act's provisions.
The reference covers the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, amnedments to the IRS Revenue Code, and new state laws on contribution limits.
For more information about the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, including the full text of the law and summaries of current litigation, visit the Federal Election Commission at www.fic.gov /pages/bcra/major_resources_bcra.htm or contact the FEC at (800) 424-9530.
The
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, also known as the McCain- Feingold/Shays-Meehan bill, was signed into law by President George W.
THEY CALLED IT THE
BIpartisan Campaign Reform Act, and it took both parties to pass it in the U.S.
In a recent article called "Teamwork," Hanna Rosin of The New Republic describes how members of both parties worked together to suppress the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, sponsored by Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Russell Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin.
The disclosure provisions of the DISCLOSE Act are modeled on the disclosure provisions in the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA).
During the first round of arguments in March, several justices were openly skeptical that restrictions on the promotion and distribution of Hillary: The Movie--deemed an "electioneering communication" under the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)--could be reconciled with the First Amendment.
He tests this theory against 120 years of congressional elections and uses it to explain candidate and party behavior following the passage of the Federal Election Campaign Act and to predict the consequences of the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain-Feingold).
