Supreme Court to Decide Whether Anti-Clinton Movie is Campaign Ad
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a movie that criticizes Sen. Hillary Clinton is a campaign ad that is subject to campaign finance regulations.
The court will consider whether the makers of Hillary: The Movie have to reveal the names of donors to the project and whether cable television may air the movie in the days before an election, the Washington Post reports. The court granted cert on Friday.
At issue is whether the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law applies to a feature-length film and to ads promoting it, the New York Times reports. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had held the movie was an “electioneering communication” that could be regulated. It also held that ads for the film had to disclose the group responsible for the advertising.
The McCain-Feingold law bars corporate- or union-funded ads that attack a candidate in the days before elections and requires disclosure of groups that pay for the ads.
The conservative group that made the movie, Citizens United, had also made an anti-Barack Obama film called: Hype: The Obama Effect, SCOTUSblog reports. The case is Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
Citizens United lawyer James Bopp Jr. said he was pleased the court had granted cert. “The notion that a feature-length movie can be banned is a return to the days of government censorship and book-burnings,” he said in a statement.
