Buchanan v. FEC (00-1775)
Summary
Background
On September 14, 2000, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the FEC's motion for summary judgment and denied the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment in this case. The district court ruled that, although the plaintiffs had standing to challenge the FEC's dismissal of their administrative complaint against the Commission on Presidential Debates, they failed to show that the FEC's interpretation of the debate regulations at 11 CFR 110.13 was arbitrary and capricious.
The plaintiffs appealed, and were granted an expedited appeal concerning the single issue of whether a debate must include all nominees who have qualified for public funding in order to comply with the "objective criteria" standard set out in the Commission's debate regulations. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the district court's order on this issue on September 29, 2000.
Dismissal of case
On November 30, 2000, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the motion by Buchanan et al. to dismiss their appeal. The FEC did not oppose the motion.
Source: FEC Record — January 2001; November 2000