MAB Washington Legal Counsel David Oxenford, in a post on his Broadcast Law Blog, notes that the US Supreme Court has issued a short decision staying the recent decision of the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals, which had rejected the FCC Media Bureau’s Public Notice that extended LUC to political parties and joint fundraising committees.  The 4^th Circuit had found that, under the law, only candidates were entitled to those rates (Oxenford wrote about the 4^th Circuit decision on his Blog, here).  The Supreme Court found that the Republican campaign committees that had sought the stay of the 4^th Circuit decision had met the requirements for a stay, largely on procedural grounds.

The Supreme Court found that the 4^th Circuit decision allowed the consideration of an appeal from an FCC staff decision, before the full Commission had considered it, which is in conflict with decisions of other Courts of Appeal that have held that full Commission review was a prerequisite to consideration of any judicial appeal.  Because of this conflict, the Supreme Court may have to review the case to resolve this conflict.  The Supreme Court also found that the Republican committees had satisfied the requirement for a stay that they show irreparable harm if a stay is not granted as the Republican groups would be harmed by having to pay more for advertising if the Public Notice was not in effect.

By granting the stay, the Public Notice’s interpretation of the application of LUC applies, so it appears that political party advertising and that of joint fundraising committees, if authorized by a federal candidate, is now subject to LUC until the Supreme Court can fully consider the merits of the case, likely well after the upcoming election.

Your MAB highly recommends consulting with your own legal counsel on this matter in addition to all political advertising concerns.