posted on September 15, 2004 02:20:21 PM new
Sep 14, 7:37 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court declined Tuesday to allow a Wisconsin anti-abortion group to run political ads this fall that criticize Democrats.
Wisconsin Right to Life had sought to run radio and television ads that mention Sen. Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat up for re-election, despite a campaign finance law's restrictions on election-time political commercials. Feingold is also a co-author of the campaign law.
A lower court last month ruled the ads were illegal, but the Wisconsin group asked Chief Justice William Rehnquist to grant an injunction allowing the ads to air pending an appeal. The group contends the ads are not political campaigning.
In a two-page order, Rehnquist said the group had not provided enough evidence that the law violated free speech rights to justify the high court's intervention at this point.
"An injunction pending appeal barring the enforcement of an act of Congress would be an extraordinary remedy," he wrote.
Under the 2002 campaign finance law, interest group ads like the 30-second television commercial by the Wisconsin group are banned 30 days before the primary and 60 days before the general election. The Supreme Court upheld the law last year.
The commercials ask people to call Feingold and another Democratic senator, urging them to oppose filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees. The group wants Bush to fill judicial vacancies with judges who support restrictions on abortion.
