EMILY's List v. FEC Update

On October 22, the Commission announced it would not seek rehearing en banc in EMILY’s List v. FEC. On September 24, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered that the district court vacate the challenged regulations, saying they “exceed the FEC’s statutory authority.”  Two of the three judges also concluded that these regulations “violate the First Amendment.”The regulations at issue concern funds received in response to solicitations (11 C.F.R. 100.57), the method for allocating administrative expenses, costs of generic voter drives, and certain public communications (11 C.F.R. 106.6(c)), and payments for public communications and voter drives that refer to one or more clearly identified federal or non-federal candidates (11 C.F.R. 106.6(f)). Commissioners’ statements on the rehearing issue are here.