WRTL: the FEC and settlements

The final disposition of the WRTL case seems to let nonprofits engage in grassroots lobbying without interference from the FEC. Following settlements in WRTL and a subsequent case, the parties and the FEC have agreed that the Supreme Court has essentially determined that genuine issue advertisements are not regulable by the FEC. The new standard, for those playing the home game, is that communications may only be regulated if they are “susceptible of no reasonable interpretation other than as an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate.”

That's pretty hard for the Congress to prove, and it seems that the pendulum has swung back to favor advocacy rights over the need to regulate campaign finance. Alliance for Justice has more here.