Small Screen Politics, Silver Screen Dilemmas

The US Supreme Court failed to hear a significant appeal this week by a conservative group wanting to promote its film, "Hillary: The Movie."

According to CNN.com, Citizens United, a Washington, DC-based conservative advocacy group, argued that ads for its movie shouldn't be subject to campaign finance laws, because they are protected by the US Constitution as a form of commercial speech.
A panel of three Federal District Court judges found in favor of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which argued otherwise.

" 'The Movie' is susceptible of no other interpretation than to inform the electorate that Senator Clinton is unfit for office, that the United States would be a dangerous place in a President Hillary world, and that viewers should vote against her."

Although he Supreme Court rejected the expedited appeal of Citizens United, the Justices did not dismiss it out of hand. They simply ordered that the litigation exhaust the federal appeals-court process before it comes to them.

The Federal District Court ruling means that all future movies -- even liberal ones -- will be subjected to close scrutiny and wild interpretation of the law. And since the judges cited the McCain-Feingold Act of 2001, the ruling has broad implications.

According to this story at MSNBC.com, "A similar issue surfaced in 2004, when Citizens United sought to keep filmmaker Michael Moore from advertising "Fahrenheit 9/11" in the run-up to the presidential election. The FEC dismissed the complaint after Moore said he had no plans to run the ads during election season."

In all probability, this case will return to the Supreme Court if for no other reason than to clarify the law regarding what constitutes political speech and what constitutes commercial speech. The ultimate decision in this case could have sweeping ramifications on the way the film industry advertises its movies.

The Federal District Court's ruling raises the ante for political campaigns to challenge the promotional ads of any and all movies containing even the slightest hint of political advocacy. If the law is not clarified, such challenges could tie the film industry up in litigation for years and stem the flow of movie promotions considerably.