CONTACT: Sarah Lee, Communications Director, 770.598.7961
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Center for Competitive Politics today filed comments supporting a Petition for Rulemaking submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF). The Rulemaking stems from a case brought against the FEC by Representative Christopher Van Hollen that was recently decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
The Petition asks the FEC to conduct a “narrow and focused rule making” to update and clarify an FEC regulation governing certain corporate and labor union communications permitted under the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC.The Commission’s regulations have not been updated to reflectthat ruling. The DC Circuit has invited such a reexamination, noting that, “neither the court nor the parties understand” the regulation as it is presently written.
CCP’s comments note that “despite Citizens United, the Commission has yet to specify any sort of disclosure regime for corporations and labor unions making … communications which are the functional equivalent of express advocacy. This gap creates additional uncertainty in the context of a regulatory regime that is already extremely complex and widely-recognized as difficult to navigate. The inevitable consequence of this confusion is that some parties will simply refrain from speaking. Such chilling of protected speech threatens core First Amendment values.”
A copy of the comments is available here.
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