Anti-527s Lawsuit Kaput

This is from right before the weekend but it got lost in the Larry Craigstrom:

A district court judge Thursday dismissed a case against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that would have compelled the agency to set rules for outside 527 groups.

The ruling  places the burden back on Congress to impose new constraints on the powerful groups before the 2008 election season begins in earnest.

Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), who brought the suit against the FEC with former Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.), expressed disappointment in the decision and called on Congress to pass a bill limiting the activities of 527s as soon possible despite a crowded fall congressional calendar.

Shays and Meehan were the Doctor Frankensteins who midwifed 527s via their 2001 campaign finance reform bill—the House version that was linked up with McCain and Feingold's Senate version. Probably not the guys you'd trust to fix this.