Category Archives: federal election commission

Federal Lawsuit against DeSantis and Florida Election Officials over Rollout of Felon Voting Rights Restoration

July 21, 2023, 4:12 amfederal election commission, felon voting, UncategorizedDan Tokaji

Tampa Bay Times reports: “Nearly five years after Floridians voted to allow people with felony convictions to restore their voting rights, the coalition that pushed for the change is suing the state, arguing Florida created a system that impedes… Continue reading

FEC Unanimously Voted (Back in July 2022, But Just Now Made Public) that Schwarzenegger and His USC Institute Did Not Violate Federal Campaign Finance Law in Giving Election Administration Grants During Covid

June 2, 2023, 2:36 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

Sensible result (vote totals). Not clear why this took so long to make public. The claim was that these grants were meant to help Biden win, but there was no evidence of that. (Similar claims have been made… Continue reading

DC Circuit affirms dismissal of challenge to FEC’s decision to accept paperwork for Trump’s presidential candidacy

May 20, 2023, 2:09 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionDerek Muller

Late last year, I highlighted a federal court’s decision to throw out a challenge to the FEC accepting paperwork for Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy on the ground that he was ineligible to serve. Last month, in an unpublished… Continue reading

DC Circuit rejects Heritage Action’s effort to intervene in Campaign Legal Center suit against FEC

May 19, 2023, 7:15 amfederal election commissionDerek Muller

You can see the DC Circuit’s unanimous opinion in Campaign Legal Center v. Federal Election Commission, here. The introduction of the opinion: Heritage Action for America appeals the denial of its post-judgment motion to intervene as of right, FED.… Continue reading

Federal Court Rejects Argument by Pro-DeSantis Super PAC That It Can Give Its Contact List to DeSantis for Free without Violating Contribution Limits

May 18, 2023, 9:03 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

This decision seems a sound and straightforward result. But of course the FEC could not agree.

“Google Didn’t Show Bias in Filtering Campaign-Ad Pitches, FEC Says”

January 17, 2023, 10:24 amcheap speech, federal election commissionRick Hasen

WSJ: The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint from Republicans that Google’s Gmail app aided Democratic candidates by sending GOP fundraising emails to spam at a far higher rate than Democratic solicitations. The Republican National Committee and others contended… Continue reading

“George Santos tries to explain his wealth”

December 28, 2022, 7:30 amfederal election commissionRick Hasen

Semafor: Rep.-elect George Santos has admitted to “embellishing” his resume with fake stints on Wall Street and a phantom college degree. He’s still trying to defend against accusations that he pretended to be Jewish. But the burning question for many… Continue reading

“‘Dark money in politics an even darker place’ now, judges warn”

December 14, 2022, 7:11 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

WaPo: The partisan split makes the FEC “an unusual agency,” said Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic appointee. “Everyone anticipated from the get-go that that was going to make enforcement challenging, and they built in this fail-safe provision that complainants could… Continue reading

With Two Judges Not Participating and Two Dissenting, D.C. Circuit Will Not Review En Banc Decision That Allows a Minority of FEC Commissioners to Block Judicial Review By Bare Assertion of “Prosecutorial Discretion”

December 12, 2022, 2:40 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

This is a travesty and renders the judicial review procedures of FEC actions mostly meaningless. Judge Millett’s dissent from the denial of en banc review begins: Essential to the rule of law is the principle that a governmental agency cannot… Continue reading

“FEC scales back digital ad transparency rule after backlash”

November 29, 2022, 4:41 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

Axios: Federal election regulators are scaling back a major digital ad transparency measure after an effort to speed it through the regulatory process drew intense internal and external pushback, records show. Why it matters: A little-noticed, two-word change to a… Continue reading

Proposed FEC Rulemaking on “Internet Communication Disclaimers and Definition of ‘Public Communication'”

November 11, 2022, 3:32 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

This draft is on the agenda for Thursday’s FEC meeting.

“The Republicans Who Want Election Laws to ‘Stay Broken’”

August 2, 2022, 7:24 amfederal election commissionRick Hasen

Daily Beast: For years, critics have argued the Federal Election Commission has been effectively broken. Now MAGA-land is going to court to make sure it stays that way.The FEC is charged with civil enforcement of campaign finance laws, but in… Continue reading

FEC Commissioner Weintraub Argues that Republican FEC Commissioners Blew It In Seeking To Dismiss Complaint Against Pro-Trump Super-Pac Involving $781 Million in Potentially Illegal Spending

July 14, 2022, 11:40 amfederal election commissionRick Hasen

Very interesting statement from Commissioner Weintraub about how Republican FEC commissioners—who have been trying to get rid of most serious cases of campaign finance violations on grounds of “prosecutorial discretion”—may have blown it in how they tried to apply it… Continue reading

“Senate confirms Democratic nominee to FEC”

May 26, 2022, 3:32 pmfederal election commissionRick Hasen

Roll Call: The Senate voted 54-38 Tuesday to confirm Democratic political lawyer Dara Lindenbaum, whose clients included the gubernatorial campaign of Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, to serve on the Federal Election Commission.An election lawyer with the firm Sandler Reiff… Continue reading