“Republican Challenge to Soft-Money Ban Certified for Consideration by D.C. Circuit”

Bloomberg BNA:

A Republican Party challenge to the ban on unlimited “soft money” contributions to political parties is now before a federal appeals court in Washington, following action by a lower court to certify constitutional questions to be addressed by the appeals court (Republican National Committee v. Federal Election Commission, D.C. Cir., 14-5241, certified questions submitted 10/6/14).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Oct. 6 docketed a 28-page certification order presenting questions the court must answer in the soft-money case. Under special rules for certain campaign finance cases, the case is set to be heard by the en banc panel of all active D.C. Circuit judges. No schedule for action by the appeals court has been released….
The certified questions were advanced to the D.C. Circuit by Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Before approving the certified question order, the judge in August denied a bid by the RNC and other plaintiffs to have their case decided by a special three-judge panel under a separate procedure for handling campaign finance cases, which could have spurred prompter consideration of the soft-money ban by the Supreme Court.
Soon after the RNC’s case was filed this summer, lawyers for the party committees and the FEC argued in court about whether the lawsuit challenging the soft-money ban should be heard under the fast-track procedures, including convening a three-judge court (3810 Money & Politics Report, 7/25/14). If the case was heard by a three-judge court, that court’s ruling could immediately be appealed to the Supreme Court without being considered by the D.C. Circuit.
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