The U.S. Court of Appeals blocks Republican move to grant discounted television advertising rates to political party committees.
The U.S. Court of Appeals blocked a move by the Federal Communications Commission to extend discounted broadcast television advertising rates to political party and joint fundraising committees. The Republican-controlled FCC proposed that these committees receive the same heavily discounted rates as individual political candidates. Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez warned that the move would allow a flood of coordinated campaign money into broadcast advertising. Four Democratic candidates, including Senator Jon Ossoff, Representative Kristen McDonald Rivet, Sherrod Brown, and Roy Cooper, sued to block the rule change. The court ruled 2-1 that campaign finance statutes are clear that neither political parties nor joint fundraising committees with non-candidate members are entitled to these discounts. The Elias Law Group, representing the Democrats, stated the ruling is a significant blow to the Republican Party. The FCC suggested it was not changing policy in its public notice, but the administration announced the court's decision to clarify that the FCC failed to identify previous guidance supporting the discount for committees.