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Washington, Feb 6, 2007 -  

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-6-MD) has reintroduced the First Amendment Restoration Act (H.R. 71) to restore Americans’ First Amendment rights by repealing the “electioneering communication” provision at issue in two cases that the Supreme Court has scheduled for oral arguments on April 25 at 10:00 am concerning the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA).

H.R. 71 (H.R. 689 in the 109^th Congress, first introduced as H.R. 3801 in the 108^th Congress) would repeal the “electioneering communication” provision that prohibits labor unions and corporations (including non-profits) from sponsoring non-PAC-funded broadcast advertisements that include any references to federal candidates during the 30 days before primary elections and 60 days before general elections.

“I am firmly committed to protecting our Constitution,” said Congressman Bartlett. “As stated in the First Amendment to the Constitution; ‘Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.’ No constitutional right is absolute; however, it is clearly a violation of the First Amendment to restrict organized group communications and limit what people can say about a candidate and when they may choose to speak out.”

“I, along with many others including the President, believe that the Supreme Court made a mistake in the December 2003 decision upholding the constitutionality of the 30-60 day provision,” said Congressman Bartlett. “The Supreme Court is not always right. The 30-60 day BCRA provision eviscerates the central purpose of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech – the protection of political speech. This legislation would simply repeal this provision.”

“The emergence of 527 committee ads demonstrates the futility of efforts by the government to control political speech,” said Congressman Bartlett. “It is so clearly a violation of our Founders’ intent in adopting the First Amendment for the government to restrict criticism of the government. The 30-60 day provision abridges Americans’ First Amendment rights. These are rights and a guarantee for self-government that must be restored to all Americans.”