Bloomberg BNA:

A federal appellate panel ruling that limits disclosure requirements for groups sponsoring political ads will stand, as the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said it will not review the panel’s ruling (Van Hollen v. Federal Election Commission, D.C. Cir., No. 15-5017, petition for en banc rehearing denied 9/26/16).

A brief order issued Sept. 26 said a majority of eligible D.C. Circuit judges “did not vote in favor of the petition” for a full court en banc rehearing in a case brought by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

The long-running litigation challenged as too lax current FEC disclosure rules for “electioneering communications”—targeted television and radio ads that refer to a federal candidate in the final weeks before an election. The FEC rules in most circumstances don’t require disclosure of those funding such ads.

The appeals court’s denial of en banc rehearing came six months after a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling that contended a broader FEC disclosure rule would violate free speech rights (4209 Money & Politics Report, 3/7/16). The panel acknowledged previous court decisions supporting disclosure but suggested such rulings conflicted with other precedents giving broad First Amendment protection to political speech….

The appellate panel that upheld the FEC rule was composed of three of the D.C. Circuit appeals court’s most conservative judges, who have previously ruled against campaign finance regulation: Janice Rogers Brown, Raymond Randolph and David Sentelle.