Free Speech For People, et al. v. FEC alleges failure to act on complaint (21-3206)

On December 8, 2021, Free Speech For People and Campaign for Accountability (“plaintiffs”) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that the FEC failed to act on their administrative complaint. The plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief under the Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act).

Background

According to the court complaint, on December 16, 2016, plaintiffs filed an administrative complaint with the FEC against the Government of the Russian Federation (“Russian Federation”) and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. (“Trump Campaign”), alleging violations of the Act. The administrative complaint alleges that the Russian Federation sought to influence the 2016 presidential election by paying hackers to breach Democratic National Committee servers and leak the hacked information; paying individuals to make social media posts; and paying for political advertisements. The administrative complaint also alleges that the Russian Federation did not disclose any of the spending and that some of its political spending was “coordinated” with the Trump Campaign.

The plaintiffs ask the court to declare the FEC’s failure to act on the administrative complaint contrary to law, and to order the FEC to conform with that declaration within 30 days.

Resources

• Free Speech For People v. FEC, et al. (21-3206) litigation page