Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Judge Skeptical of FEC Allegations

A federal judge was skeptical of the Federal Election Commission’s contention that GOPAC, the Republican political action committee, violated election laws by advocating the overthrow of Democrats in Congress two years before it registered as a political committee. In quizzing FEC and GOPAC lawyers, U.S. District Judge Louis F. Oberdorfer expressed concerns about the consequences of siding with the FEC. Oberdorfer worried that GOPAC’s free-speech rights to spread general, political ideas might be infringed. The FEC is suing GOPAC over its activities when House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) was its general chairman and has accused the committee of dabbling in federal elections in 1989 before it was legally allowed to do so.