How have the courts assessed the BCRA?
The law itself spelled out an expedited process for handling the inevitable legal challenges to the law. A three-judge panel in the District of Columbia held hearings at which evidence of the impact of campaign contributions was introduced. After months of deliberation, the panel issued its ruling in May 2003. The panel, comprised of appeals court Judge Karen Henderson and district Judges Colleen Kollar-Kotelly and Richard Leon, produced more than 1,600 pages of mix-and-match opinions that upheld some provisions of the law but struck down others. Commentators generally agreed that because of its fractured findings and conclusions, the ruling did little to help the Supreme Court as it undertook its own assessment of the law.
