AB PAC v. FEC (22-2139)

On July 17, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (the court) granted the Commission’s partial motion to dismiss an amended complaint from AB PAC (the plaintiff) alleging the Commission failed to act on its administrative complaint.

Background

AB PAC filed an administrative complaint with the FEC in March 2022 against former president Donald J. Trump. The administrative complaint alleged that Mr. Trump violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act) in two discrete ways. First, AB PAC alleged Mr. Trump violated the Act by making expenditures to advance a 2024 presidential bid without filing with the Commission or disclosing those expenditures (the disclosure claim). Second, the complaint alleged that Mr. Trump violated the Act by accepting excessive contributions from his leadership PAC and joint fundraising committee (the excessive contributions claim).

On July 20, 2022, AB PAC filed suit in the court alleging that, as of the filing of its amended complaint in this suit, the FEC had failed to act on the administrative complaint.

On November 4, 2022, the FEC moved to partially dismiss the amended complaint to the extent it seeks an order compelling the Commission to act on any administrative complaint alleging Trump accepted excessive contributions. The Commission argued the plaintiff has not established standing to obtain any relief on this portion of its claim.

Analysis

The court stated that for a plaintiff to have standing to challenge the FEC’s failure to act on an alleged FECA violation, the plaintiff must establish an injury flowing from that violation. The FEC argued that AB PAC lacks an injury sufficient to support standing on its excessive contributions claim. The court agreed that AB PAC suffered neither a competitive nor an informational injury. Therefore, the court stated, a claim related to a violation of the Act for which AB PAC cannot show such injury must be dismissed for lack of standing.

The court granted the FEC’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint in part, and further ordered the plaintiff’s complaint is dismissed to the extent that it seeks any relief relating to the Commission’s failure to act on the excessive contributions claim.

Source: FEC Record — July 2023; July 2022

District Court (DC)

Court decisions:

• Memorandum Opinion and Order (07/17/2023)

Related documents:

• Federal Election Commission's Answer to Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (07/31/2023)
• Federal Election Commission's Reply Memorandum in Support of Its Partial Motion to Dismiss (12/02/2022)
• Federal Election Commission's Partial Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint (11/04/2022)
• Federal Election Commission's Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Its Partial Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (11/04/2022)
• Amended Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (10/14/2022)
• Federal Election Commission's Partial Motion to Dismiss (09/26/2022)
• Federal Election Commission's Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Its Partial Motion to Dismiss (09/26/2022)
• Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (07/20/2022)