Opinion ID: 761818
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutional Challenge to the FEC Party Affiliation Limitation

Text: 11 The Reform Party seeks to invalidate the statutory limitation on who may sit on the Federal Election Commission, the body that administers and enforces both FECA and the Fund Act. FECA provides that the President appoints the six members of the Commission with the advice and consent of the Senate. See 2 U.S.C. § 437c(a)(1). No more than three members of the [FEC] ... may be affiliated with the same political party. Id. Although FECA mentions no political party by name, in practice the FEC always has been divided equally between Republican and Democratic members. The Reform Party contends that the party affiliation provision violates the Appointments Clause and plaintiffs' rights to free speech and equal protection. 12 We do not reach the merits of the Reform Party's challenge. Plaintiffs initially must establish that they have Article III standing by showing that they have suffered an injury in fact that is fairly traceable to the challenged provision and that is likely to be redressed by the requested relief. See Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). Insofar as we understand plaintiffs' claim, it is that the Reform Party is somehow prevented or hindered from obtaining representation on the six-member Commission by the congressional restraint upon the President to appoint no more than three members of the same political party. The statutory provision, however, is on its face intended to diversify the membership of the Commission and to prevent the party of the President from dominating the Commission. The Reform Party has not explained how the relief it requests, the invalidation of the party affiliation provision will make minority party representation any more likely. 13 Our conclusion on this issue is consistent with the D.C. Circuit's holding in FEC v. NRA Political Victory Fund, 6 F.3d 821 (D.C.Cir.1993), cert. granted, 512 U.S. 1218, 114 S.Ct. 2703, 129 L.Ed.2d 832 (1994), cert. dismissed, 513 U.S. 88, 115 S.Ct. 537, 130 L.Ed.2d 439 (1994). In that case, the National Rifle Association challenged the composition of the FEC as violating the Appointments Clause. The D.C. Circuit held that the issue was not justiciable because the plaintiff could not show that an invalidation of the bipartisan requirement would redress its grievances. See id. at 825. The court also noted that it could not assume that the bipartisanship requirement has any effect on the Commission's work, for without the statute the President could have appointed exactly the same members. Id.