FRC: Supreme Court Ruling a Win for Free Political Speech

News provided by

Jan 21, 2010, 07:12 ET

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins released the following statement regarding today's decision by the U.S Supreme Court in Citizens United vs FEC:

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080930/FRCLOGO)

"Under the principles established by the First Amendment, nothing is more foundational than free speech. This is a win for free political speech and the right of corporate citizens to join the political process.

"The court's decision is a step toward restoring open political discourse in this country. Speech should not be truncated by government regulation; rather, transparency should be pursued. The standard of accountability must be full and prompt disclosure, not unconstitutional prohibitions on financial contributions.

"Chief Justice John Roberts stated he was not prepared to 'embrace a theory of the First Amendment that would allow censorship not only of television and radio broadcasts, but of pamphlets, posters, the Internet and virtually any other medium…' We agree. Had the court not acted as it did today, the United States would have continued down the road of ever increasing restrictions and impediments to the expression of political speech.

"The Supreme Court's decision overturns an act of Congress that was clearly unconstitutional. We applaud the leadership exhibited by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who never wavered in his opposition to a law that he always regarded as being unconstitutional."

SOURCE Family Research Council