Supreme Court backs GOP again on political advertising rates ahead of midterms

The Supreme Court has again sided with the Trump administration's Federal Communications Commission in a fight over political advertising rates, freeing the agency from a lower-court deadline weeks before the midterms. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, without explanation, from Wednesday's unsigned order, the second Republican-friendly ruling on the issue since September, according to MS NOW.

At stake is whether discounted rates belong to candidates alone or also to party committees and joint fundraising groups. The FCC and Republican organizations favor the broader view, which would likely aid the GOP because Democratic candidates usually outraise their committees, while the opposite holds for Republicans. Senator Jon Ossoff, Representative Kristen McDonald Rivet, former Senator Sherrod Brown and former Governor Roy Cooper brought the challenge.

After the justices ruled in September that an appeals court lacked jurisdiction, the candidates filed anew, and a divided Fourth Circuit panel ordered the commission to act on their application by October 9. Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III dissented. The Supreme Court majority said the Communications Act requires action on each application but sets no timetable, and the agency need not rush a final order.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →