McConnell v. Federal Election Commission decided the manor in which the 2005 election would be campaigned, and while the political world blistered in post-9/11 heat, the Bush v. Kerry campaign was taking on such importance that the Justices' opinion would be immediately decisive in the outcome of yet another election. Although not as direct as their role in the Bush v. Gore election, the manner in which the BCRA was evaluated was just as critical to the role of money and attack ads in the forthcoming election. The effectiveness of these loopholes are most evidenced in retrospect, from the "Leave No Billionaire Behind!" motto with which liberals credited Bush to the Swift Boat Veterans campaign that essentially under-minded the Kerry movement as a whole. While the outcome favored the conservative party to which the dissenting Justices pay their political respects, the core importance of the McConnell decision was to make clearer the waters before what would be, clearly, a very tumultuous campaign season.

McConnell v. Federal Election Commission provides the closing of loopholes that previously allowed for the appearance of corruption in political campaigns, primarily through soft money funneling and attack ads. O'Connor and Stevens supported the upholding of the modified...

The party-line split was the result of temporal political turmoil in an ever-polarized world, with the liberals swinging more left and the conservatives running further to the right. The Opinion of Scalia's dissent sheds light on the political polarization occurring in America most clearly; his critique for a system that provided for safe and monitored elections that hold the spirit of a law over its actual words suggests a neo-libertarian shift of even the standard right wing. The tight margin of support for the BRCA affirmation evidences another truth: the appointment of the next Supreme Court Justice will change the entire face of American government and politics.
Citations:

Buckley v. Valeo, 718 U.S.App.D.C. 172

Federal Election Comm'n v. National Right to Work Comm., 459 U.S. 197, 208.

McConnell v. Federal Election Comm'n. 250 F. Supp. 2d 176.

Syllabus

Opinion, Stevens and O'Connor

Opinion, Rehnquist

Opinion, Breyer

Dissent, Rehnquist

Dissent, Stevens

Other, Opinion of Scalia