Court of Appeals Issues Opinion in Independence Institute v. FEC

WASHINGTON — A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today issued an Opinion and Dissenting Opinion and Judgment in Independence Institute v. FEC (USCA Case 14-5249). 

The majority opinion held that the Independence Institute’s as-applied challenge to the definition of “electioneering communication” in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), and BCRA's disclosure requirements for such communications, should have been decided by a three-judge district court pursuant to BCRA’s special judicial review provision. The court reversed the previous judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and remanded the case to that court, instructing it to initiate procedures to convene a three-judge district court.