Republicans Appeal to Supreme Court After Losing Fight Over TV Election Ad Discounts
GOP congressional committees are seeking Supreme Court intervention after an appeals court blocked an FCC order that would have extended candidate-level ad discounts to parties, aiming for a ruling before September 4.
US law requires broadcast TV stations to offer individual political candidates the "lowest unit charge" for ads during the 60 days before an election, a rule meant to help candidates reach voters without needing to raise huge sums. Earlier this year, the FCC under the Trump administration extended that same discount requirement to political parties and joint fundraising committees, entities that face far fewer restrictions on fundraising and spending than individual candidates.
Four Democratic candidates challenged the order, and a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled that the FCC's move conflicts with the plain text of the law and cannot be enforced. The National Republican Congressional Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee, which had intervened to back the FCC, announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Republican committees asked the 4th Circuit to rule quickly on an emergency stay request so they could seek relief from the Supreme Court. The court denied the stay but issued an immediate mandate that can now be appealed. Republicans are pushing for fast Supreme Court action before the 60-day discount window begins on September 4, arguing that candidates and committees are already signing contracts and producing ads for the coming weeks.
Dispute and context
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the agency's only Democrat, warned the order would unleash a surge of coordinated campaign money into broadcast advertising, especially after a separate Supreme Court ruling eliminated limits on coordinated spending between parties and candidates. She also said forcing stations to discount their most valuable ad slots would deepen broadcasters' financial troubles.
The legal fight centers on how to interpret the law's reference to ad "use... by" a candidate, and whether that covers ad time bought on a candidate's behalf by parties. Two Democratic-appointed judges on the 4th Circuit sided against the FCC, while Republican-appointed Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III dissented in the FCC's favor. Republicans are counting on the Supreme Court's conservative majority, though they face a complication: 1991 FCC guidance and a statement made last year by the Trump administration's own solicitor general both contradict the current FCC position.
