Washington ? The Christian Coalition and a group of teen-agers have separately filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of restrictions on campaign spending signed into law by President Bush last week.

The two lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Washington join others submitted by the National Rifle Assn. and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a longtime opponent of the measure that bans unregulated “soft-money” contributions to the political parties.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, which filed the suit on behalf of six teen-agers and the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, said he expected a dozen suits brought against the new law. Opponents say the law violates First Amendment free-speech rights.

The teen-agers are contesting language that bars minors 17 years and younger from making political contributions. Mahoney is director of the Christian Defense Coalition, an anti-abortion activist organization.

Sekulow said the court may issue consolidation orders next week, with McConnell expected to be the lead plaintiff. Defending the law will be the Justice Department and attorneys for the sponsors of the legislation Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Martin Meehan, D-Mass.

The legal battle over the most comprehensive changes in campaign finance laws in a quarter-century is expected to move quickly to the Supreme Court.

Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition, said her group was contesting provisions that they believed would make it illegal to send out voter guides before an election. The coalition sent out 70 million such guides during the 2000 election and “there is something very wrong with a law that prohibits the voters’ right to know how members of Congress have voted on important pro-life and pro-family issues.”

The suit on behalf of the teen-agers said they are “deeply and seriously interested in electoral politics” and that the ban on financial contributions deprives them of free-speech rights.