Last week, a federal court based in California issued a surprising and sure to be controversial decision finding the Communication Act’s ban on the airing of political and issue advertisements by public broadcasters to be a violation of their First...(read more)
Primary Lineup Set in North Carolina
The primary election in North Carolina is Tuesday, May 8, 2012, with a second primary (if needed) being either June 26 or July 17The second primary will be June 26 if no second primary is needed for U.S. Representative races and it will be July 17...(read more)
FCC Denies Political Advertising Complaint
In the final hours of the last business day before the Super Bowl, the Chief of the FCC's Media Bureau released an order denying the "reasonable access" complaint of Randall Terry against a Chicago television station. Terry's campaign had been...(read more)
Federal Candidate Ad Entitled to Air Time
National news outlets are reporting that the NBC Network has asked presidential candidate Mitt Romney to stop using a television ad attacking Newt Gingrich that features former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw. The ad is available on the Mitt Romney...(read more)
Fox News Sues U.S. Senate Candidate For Copyright Infringement
In a truly unusual move, Fox News Network and one of its highest profile journalists, Chris Wallace, filed a lawsuit earlier this month against the campaign of Robin Carnahan, a candidate for U.S. Senate from Missouri. The lawsuit, which you can...(read more)
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Limits on Corporate Political Speech on First Amendment Grounds
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporations (and labor unions) may make unlimited expenditures to directly advocate for the election or defeat of a Federal candidate at any...(read more)
Hagan Drops Political Ad Lawsuit
In a prior post, we reported upon the institution of legal actions in the midst of two high-profile U.S. Senate campaigns. There were important developments in both matters yesterday. As we reported, Kay Hagan instituted an action over a political...(read more)
Legal Actions Initiated over Political Ads in High-Profile Senate Races
Not even two weeks after we highlighted the issue of defamation claims arising from political ads , those very claims are making headlines right now in two high-profile political races. Just this week, two United States Senate candidates—Minnesota...(read more)