Advancing American Freedom led a coalition of 21 other amici in filing an amicus brief in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission. In this case, NRSC is challenging a provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) that prohibits political parties from coordinating their speech with the candidates they are supporting. As the lower court’s Judge Thapar noted, the Supreme Court’s 2001 decision, FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee, upholding this provision is an “outlier” in the Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence. NRSC is asking the Court to overturn that decision.
“The Supreme Court should overturn its decision in Colorado and restore the free speech and association rights of political party organizations,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “The FECA provision at issue in this case was unconstitutional when passed by Congress and has become even more burdensome in the intervening decades. Americans do not lose their First Amendment rights when they join a party organization. We urge the Court to rule for NRSC in this case.”