Light blogging through the New Year doesn’t mean that we can’t share a good laugh. Fortunately, the humorless “reform” community is always there to play straight man!
Here is the headline on the Campaign Legal Center’s report on the this week’s decision Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC: “Federal Panel Issues Divided Opinion in WRTL v. FEC, et al.” In the body of the article, they describe this as a “split decision.”
Sorry, guys, the opinion was not divided; the decision was not split. You got slammed. Now the panel was divided – 2-1 – but the opinion of the majority was pretty clear, and it was a clean sweep for plaintiff Wisconsin Right to Life:
Standing – you lost.
Ripeness – you lost.
Mootness – you lost.
Merits – you lost!
We may be wrong, but we’re pretty sure a 2-1 opinion has just as much force of law as a 3-0 opinion. But maybe we’re wrong. Perhaps the 5-4 Supreme Court opinion in McConnell v. FEC no longer counts!
We print this to chuckle, not to gloat: we are all to aware that this case is likely to go before the Supreme Court, where a different result may ensue. And we here at CCP may then be very disappointed in that decision. If so, we will express our criticisms, and where we think the Court got it wrong. But we will, at least, describe the opinion accurately.
