Supreme Court affirms three-judge district court opinion in Independence Institute v. FEC

WASHINGTON – The United States Supreme Court today affirmed the three-judge court opinion of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Independence Institute v. FEC (Case 1:14-cv-01500-CKK-PAM-APM). The Plaintiff, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in Colorado, had challenged the constitutionality of the electioneering communication reporting requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, as applied to an advertisement the Plaintiff had planned to air shortly before the 2014 and 2016 general elections. On November 3, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment and granted the FEC’s Motion for Summary Judgment. The Supreme Court affirmed the District Court’s decision today in response to an appeal from the Plaintiff.