Supreme Court affirms lower court decision in Republican Party of Louisiana, et al. v. FEC

On May 22, 2017, the Supreme Court affirmed the three-judge court opinion of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which granted summary judgment to the Commission in a lawsuit brought by the Republican Party of Louisiana and two local Republican party committees in Louisiana (collectively, plaintiffs).

The plaintiffs had challenged several provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act, including the requirement that state and local political parties must generally use federal funds to finance activities in connection with federal elections, including get-out-the-vote, voter registration drives and other communications and activities. They claimed that these provisions unconstitutionally burdened their First Amendment rights by restricting their ability to use nonfederal funds (or so-called “soft money”) to finance these federal election activities, including those that they planned to do independently of any candidates.

Resources:

• Republican Party of Louisiana et al. v. FEC litigation page