IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

SENATOR MITCH McCONNELL, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-582

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)

)

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-581

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)

)

EMILY ECHOLS, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-633

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)

)

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE )

UNITED STATES, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-751

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)
2

)

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF )

BROADCASTERS, )

)

Plaintiff, )

) Civil Action No. 02-751

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)

)

AFL-CIO, et al. )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-754

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

 )

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)

)

CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-781

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL) 

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)

)

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-874

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)
3

)

CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-875

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)

)

VICTORIA JACKSON GRAY ADAMS, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-877

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)

)

BENNIE G. THOMPSON, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

) Civil Action No. 02-881

 v. ) (CKK, KLH, RJL)

)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

__________________________________________)

MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF THE

GOVERNMENT DEFENDANTS’ EMERGENCY MOTION FOR TEMPORARY STAY

PENDING CONSIDERATION OF MOTION FOR STAY OF FINAL JUDGMENT

PENDING APPEAL TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Defendants Federal ElectionCommission, theUnitedStates ofAmerica, the U.S. Department

of Justice, John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States, and the Federal Communications
4

Commission, are separately filing a motion asking the Court to stay its Final Judgment of May 2,

2003, pending final disposition by the Supreme Court of the United States of the parties’ appeals.

For similar reasons, the defendants also respectfully ask this Court to issue a temporary

administrative stay of its Final Judgment while this Court considers the pending stay motion and the

other stay motions filed in this matter.

As explained in the memorandum in support of the government’s motion for a stay pending

appeal, the Court’s Final Judgment in this case has fundamentally altered the statutory scheme that

governs the financing of federal elections, creating an alternative regime that was not enacted by

Congress, is not the product of any clear consensus on this Court, and bears little resemblance to the

system that Congress established. The Court’s discordant and voluminous rulings in this case create

significant confusion and potential regulatory chaos for the Federal Election Commission and all

those subject to its regulation. A temporary stay should be issued to allow this Court sufficient time

to consider the government’s stay motion, as well as the stay requests that have been filed and may

be filed by other parties, while preserving the status quo.

Plaintiffs National Rifle Association and National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund

have requested the Court to issue an administrative stay limited to the Court’s ruling with respect

to Title II’s definition of an “electioneering communication.” In our view, due to the considerations

discussed in our memorandum in support of a stay pending appeal, and in order to minimize the

added confusion that would be created by staying the Court’s Final Judgment on any piece-meal

basis, the Court should issue an administrative stay of the entire Final Judgment pending

consideration of the parties’ stay requests. Similar considerations also counsel against taking a

piece-meal approach in staying the Court’s judgment for the period pending appeal.
5

For the foregoing reasons, the Court should temporarily stay the effect of its May 2, 2003

Final Judgment pending disposition of Defendants’ Motion for Stay of Final Judgment Pending

Appeal.

Respectfully submitted, 

THEODORE B. OLSON

 Solicitor General

LAWRENCE H. NORTON ROBERT D. McCALLUM, JR.

 General Counsel Assistant Attorney General

RICHARD B. BADER PAUL D. CLEMENT

 Associate General Counsel Deputy Solicitor General

STEPHEN E. HERSHKOWITZ MALCOLM L. STEWART

 Assistant General Counsel GREGORY G. GARRE

DAVID KOLKER Assistants to the Solicitor

 Assistant General Counsel General

 

Counsel for Defendant

Federal Election Commission ____________________________________

JOSEPH H. HUNT

THEODORE C. HIRT

JAMES J. GILLIGAN 

TERRY M. HENRY

RUPA BHATTACHARYYA

ANDREA GACKI

MARC L. KESSELMAN

SERRIN TURNER

Attorneys

U.S. Department of Justice

20 Massachusetts Ave, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20044

Tel: (202) 514-3358

Counsel for Defendants United States of

America, John Ashcroft, Attorney General of

the United States, the U.S. Department of

Justice, and the Federal Communications

Dated: May 9, 2003 Commission
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on May 9, 2003, copies of the foregoing document were served (1) upon all counsel known

to be designated by the parties for service by electronic mail, by electronic mail, (2) upon the following by facsimile:

David A. Wilson 202.942.8484 John Bonifaz 617.368.9101

Kenneth W. Starr 202.879.5200 Charles J. Cooper 202.220.9601

James M. Henderson, Sr. 202.337.3167 James Bopp, Jr. 812.235.3685

Donald J. Mulvihill 202.862.8958

(3) upon the following by first-class mail, postage prepaid: 

Jan Witold Baran

Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP

1776 K Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20006

Bobby R. Burchfield 

Covington & Burling

1201 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20004

Charles J. Cooper

Cooper & Kirk PLLC

1500 K Street, N.W., Ste. 200

Washington, D.C. 20005 

Laurence E. Gold

AFL-CIO

815 Sixteenth Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20006

James Matthew Henderson, Sr.

American Center for Law and

Justice

205 Third Street, S.E.

Washington, D.C. 20003

Donald J. Mulvihill

Cahill Gordon & Reindel

1990 K Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20006

John Bonifaz

National Voting Rights Institute

One Bromfield St. 3rd Floor

Boston MA 02108

William J. Olson

William J. Olson, P.C.

8180 Greensboro Dr., Ste. 1070

McLean, VA. 22102-3823

Joseph E. Sandler

Sandler, Reiff & Young, P.C.

50 E St., S.E. #300 

Washington, D.C. 20003

Kenneth W. Starr

Kirkland & Ellis

655 Fifteenth Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005

David A. Wilson

Hale and Dorr L.L.P.

1455 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

10th Floor

Washington, D.C. 20004

Sherri L. Wyatt

Sherri L. Wyatt, PLLC

1017 12th Street, N.W.

Suite 300

Washington, D.C. 20005-4061

G. Hunter Bates

1215 Cliffwood Drive

Goshen, Kentucky 40026

James Bopp, Jr.

James Madison Center For

Free Speech

Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom

1 South Sixth Street

Terre Haute, Indiana 47807

Floyd Abrams

Cahill Gordon & Reindel

80 Pine St.

New York, NY 10005

Mark J. Lopez

American Civil Liberties Union

125 Broad Street 17th Fl.

New York, N.Y. 10004

Richard Blair Bader

Federal Election Commission

999 E Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20463 

Roger M. Witten

Randolph D. Moss

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering

2445 M Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20037

Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr.

E. Joshua Rosenkranz 

Brennan Center for Justice

161 Avenue of the Americas, 12th

Floor

New York, NY 10013

____________________________________