FEC Update

Bluman v. FEC: The US Supreme Court summarily affirmed the judgment of the District of Columbia, which had granted the FEC’s motion to dismiss. The Plaintiffs are foreign nationals who lawfully live and work in the US and challenged the constitutionality of the prohibition on foreign nationals making contributions or expenditures in connection with a federal elections.  The Court upheld the prohibition. Advisory Opinion 2011-24:  StandLouder.com, and LLC, may form an “independent expenditure-only committee” for the purpose of accepting ad content, receiving contributions and funding independent expenditures as part of its proposed business model which would allow for users of StandLouder.com to create, post and fund certain political ads. Advisory Opinion 2011-28:  Western Representation PAC may not exclude the actual costs of independent expenditure ads placed on Facebook from the calculation of its expenses included on its 24-hour and 48-hour reports for the 2012 Presidential primary elections.