Van Hollen: Appeals court sides with FEC on donor disclosure rule

Today the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion, judgment and order in Van Hollen v. FEC (15-5016 & 15-5017). The Court reversed the November 2014 decision of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and upheld the Commission’s regulation at 11 C.F.R. § 104.20(c)(9) requiring corporations and labor organizations to disclose only those donations “made for the purpose of furthering electioneering communications.”

The nation’s second most powerful court on Thursday sided with the Obama administration in Rep. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-Md.) challenge to the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) donor disclosure rule. In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a rule that requires corporations and unions to disclose all donations totaling $1,000 or more that were “made for the purpose of furthering electioneering communications.” Van Hollen argued it violates the text of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). The law, which was passed in 2002, required all donations of $1,000 to be disclosed.