The American Bar Association (ABA) sent a letter May 25 to the IRS calling for two regulatory changes that would protect social welfare organizations exempt under 501(c)(4) of the tax code from losing exempt status if they are involved in election related activity.

Within days of the Federal Election Commission's (FEC) May 13 decision to delay action on its proposed rule expanding regulation of independent political committees (often referred to as 527 groups), Republicans began calling for aggressive fundraising for groups sympathetic to them. By the end of May some Republican Members of Congress were stretching the limits of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) by agreeing to appear at fundraisers for groups like the Leadership Forum.

On May 19, 2004, a federal court judge threw out the charges brought against Greenpeace by the United States Justice Department. Shortly after the prosecution rested their case, the judge decided that there was not enough evidence for the case to go to the jury and granted the motion for acquittal.

Citizens for Sensible Safeguards released a new report documenting a systematic attack on regulatory protections to a standing-room-only crowd at an event that featured former federal workers who have resigned in protest of that attack. The report, Special Interest Takeover: The Bush Administration and the Dismantling of Public Safeguards, was produced on behalf of Citizens for Sensible Safeguards by OMB Watch and the Center for American Progress.