MADISON, Wis. (WTAQ) - A federal judge says he’ll wait for the State Supreme Court to decide a lawsuit over the funding of elections, before he makes his own ruling in the case.

Wisconsin Right to Life asked Milwaukee Federal Judge Charles Clevert to strike down new rules from a state panel. Those rules require groups to say where they get the money for “issue ads” – which praise or slam a candidate on an issue without telling people how to vote.

Two competing groups filed a similar lawsuit in federal court in Madison. And tea party groups and other conservatives filed yet another lawsuit with the State Supreme Court.

That court told the Government Accountability Board to hold up on the new rules before it could rule on the matter. The plantiffs said the new rules discourage groups from making issue ads, thus violating the 1st Amendment right to free speech.

The state asked Judge Clevert to delay his ruling until the Supreme Court makes theirs – and he agreed to do so. That strikes down the Right to Life suit in Clevert’s court. But he says the group can re-file its suit within a month after the Supreme Court acts.