Aug 22, 2008 -- Legal Center Weekly Report: August 22, 2008

FEC Rejects Sen. Lautenberg's Claim that Personal Loan Repayment Limit Was Invalidated by Supreme Court's Davis Decision

On Monday, the Campaign Legal Center, together with Democracy 21, filed comments with the FEC in regard to an advisory opinion request (AOR 2008-9) submitted by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) requesting that the Commission "confirm that as a result of [the ruling in Davis v. FEC], the Commission no longer will seek to enforce the provision in the Millionaire's Amendment that pertains to loan repayment." Specifically, Sen. Lautenberg urged the Commission to announce in the context of an advisory opinion that it will no longer enforce the federal law $250,000 limit on post-election repayment of personal loans established by 2 U.S.C. § 441a(j).

The Legal Center urged the FEC to decline Sen. Lautenberg's request that it unilaterally invalidate a provision of federal law. The statutory $250,000 limit on post-election repayment of personal loans established by section 441a(j) was not even challenged, let alone invalidated, in Davis v. FEC, 128 S. Ct. 2759 (2008). Indeed, the Supreme Court did not even mention section 441a(j) in its Davis decision.

On Thursday, the FEC, consistent with the Legal Center's comments, unanimously rejected Sen. Lautenberg's request that the Commission cease enforcement of the post-election personal loan repayment limit—opining that the loan repayment provision is severable from the Millionaire's Amendment provisions invalidated in Davis and that the loan repayment limit applies to Sen. Lautenberg's outstanding loans to his campaign committee.

Legal Center's Campaign & Election Law Litigation Update

In the ongoing effort to educate the public and decision makers, the Campaign Legal Center this week distributed an updated version of its "Cases of Interest." The campaign and election law litigation update provides a brief summary of pertinent cases and outlines CLC involvement.

Recent months have been a particularly busy in the courts, with a growing number of cases on dockets around the country, particularly those challenging existing campaign finance laws.

CLC Director Issues Statement on von Spakovsky's Hire to USCCR

Campaign Legal Center Executive Director, J. Gerald Hebert, issued a statement on Thursday expressing his great disappointment with the hiring of Hans von Spakovsky to the United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR).

Hebert said that the fact that the US Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) hired von Spakovsky "is absolutely disgraceful and speaks volumes about the political patronage still being doled out by the current Administration."

Legal Center Blog Highlights

Each week, the Campaign Legal Center staff posts blog entries on its site, www.clcblog.org. To read this week entry, "Campaign & Election Law Litigation Update, August 2008" or to sign up for the blog, click here.

Week in the News

To read a variety of this week's editorials and articles on a variety of Campaign Legal Center issues, please click here.