Lieu v. Fed. Election Comm'n

370 F. Supp. 3d 175
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedFebruary 28, 2019
DocketCiv. No. 16-2201 (EGS)
StatusPublished

This text of 370 F. Supp. 3d 175 (Lieu v. Fed. Election Comm'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lieu v. Fed. Election Comm'n, 370 F. Supp. 3d 175 (D.C. Cir. 2019).

Opinion

Emmet G. Sullivan, United States District Judge

This case involves the constitutionality of the Federal Election Campaign Act's ("FECA") limits on contributions to political action committees that make only independent expenditures. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ("D.C. Circuit") has held that contributions to such independent expenditure-only political action committees "cannot corrupt or create the appearance of corruption" and therefore limits on contributions to these groups are unconstitutional. SpeechNow.org v. FEC , 599 F.3d 686, 694 (D.C. Cir. 2010) (en banc). The upshot of this holding is that certain political action committees, commonly known as "Super *178PACs" can "receive unlimited amounts of money from both individuals and corporations" and "engage in unlimited electioneering communications, so long as their activities are not made 'in cooperation, consultation, or concert, with, or at the request or suggestion of' a candidate, his or her authorized political committee, or a national, State, or local committee of a political party." Stop This Insanity, Inc. Employee Leadership Fund v. FEC , 902 F.Supp.2d 23, 37 (D.D.C. 2012) (citation omitted). It is undisputed that this is the law of the Circuit.

Notwithstanding the D.C. Circuit's ruling in SpeechNow , Plaintiffs Representative Ted Lieu; Representative Walter Jones; Senator Jeff Merkley, State Senator (ret.); John Howe; Zephyr Teachout; and Michael Wager (collectively, "Plaintiffs") brought an administrative complaint against several Super PACs alleging violations of FECA when the Super PACs knowingly accepted contributions in excess of monetary limits set by FECA. The Federal Election Commission ("FEC" or "Commission") disagreed explaining that under SpeechNow the Super PACs actions were lawful. Accordingly, the FEC dismissed the administrative complaint.

Plaintiffs bring this action alleging the FEC acted "contrary to law" when it dismissed the administrative complaint against the Super PACs because the FEC relied on SpeechNow --an allegedly unlawful judicial ruling. Pending before the Court is FEC's motion to dismiss plaintiffs' complaint for failure to state a claim. Plaintiffs have the daunting task of persuading this Court to rule inconsistently with the D.C. Circuit's en banc opinion in SpeechNow . This Court cannot do so, therefore defendant's motion to dismiss is GRANTED .

I. Background

Because the claims in this case involve several provisions of FECA, and the D.C. Circuit's interpretation of those provisions, the Court begins with an explanation of the statute and relevant case law.

A. FECA and SpeechNow

FECA was enacted to "limit spending in federal election campaigns and to eliminate the actual or perceived pernicious influence over candidates for elective office that wealthy individuals or corporations could achieve by financing the 'political warchests' of those candidates." Orloski v. FEC , 795 F.2d 156, 163 (D.C. Cir. 1986) (citing Buckley v. Valeo , 424 U.S. 1, 25-26, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976) ). To that end, there are several provisions in FECA that limit the amount of money a person can contribute to a federal campaign. These limits often depend on who or where the contribution is coming from, and the amount of the contribution.

Relevant to this case are the limits on contributions made to political action committees.1 FECA defines a "political committee" as "any committee, club, association, or other group of persons" that receives "contributions" or makes "expenditures" "for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal Office" "aggregating in excess of $ 1,000 during a calendar year." 52 U.S.C. § 30101(4)(A), (8)(A)(i), (9)(A)(i). This definition has been further tailored by the Supreme Court to "only encompass organizations that are under the control of a candidate or the major *179purpose of which is the nomination or election of a candidate." Buckley v. Valeo , 424 U.S. 1, 79, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976). Political action committees fall within the category of political committees as defined by the Act.

FECA sets several limitations on the contributions political committees may receive depending on the type of entity that receives the contribution. A political committee that is not authorized by a candidate or established by a national or state political party may not knowingly accept any contribution in excess of $ 5,000 per year from an individual. 52 U.S.C. § 30116(f). And, of course, an individual shall not contribute more than $ 5,000 per year to this type of political committee. Id. § 30116(a)(1)(C).

The $ 5,000 limit on contributions to political committees does not apply, however, to political committees that solely engage in independent expenditures. See SpeechNow , 599 F.3d at 694-95. Independent expenditures are defined by FECA as expenditures "that expressly advocate[ ] the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate" and are "not made in concert or cooperation with or at the request or suggestion of such candidate, the candidate's authorized political committee, or their agents, or a political party committee or its agents." 52 U.S.C.

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Related

Speechnow.org v. Federal Election Commission
599 F.3d 686 (D.C. Circuit, 2010)
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
558 U.S. 310 (Supreme Court, 2010)
Buckley v. Valeo
424 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Heckler v. Chaney
470 U.S. 821 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Federal Election Commission v. Akins
524 U.S. 11 (Supreme Court, 1998)
McConnell v. Federal Election Commission
540 U.S. 93 (Supreme Court, 2003)
Amer Bioscience Inc v. Thompson, Tommy G.
269 F.3d 1077 (D.C. Circuit, 2001)
Hagelin v. Federal Election Commission
411 F.3d 237 (D.C. Circuit, 2005)
Richard J. Orloski v. Federal Election Commission
795 F.2d 156 (D.C. Circuit, 1986)
James E. Akins v. Federal Election Commission
101 F.3d 731 (D.C. Circuit, 1997)
McCutcheon v. Federal Election Comm'n
134 S. Ct. 1434 (Supreme Court, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
370 F. Supp. 3d 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lieu-v-fed-election-commn-cadc-2019.