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National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission

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Supreme Court of the United States
National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission
Docket number: 24-621
Term: 2025
Court: United States Supreme Court
Important dates
Argued: December 9, 2025
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts • Clarence Thomas • Samuel Alito • Sonia Sotomayor • Elena Kagan • Neil Gorsuch • Brett Kavanaugh • Amy Coney Barrett • Ketanji Brown Jackson

National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission is a case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on December 9, 2025, during the court's October 2025-2026 term.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • The issue: The case concerns the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) Click here to learn more about the case's background.
  • The questions presented: "Whether the limits on coordinated party expenditures in 52 U.S.C. § 30116 violate the First Amendment, either on their face or as applied to party spending in connection with ‘party coordinated communications’ as defined in 11 C.F.R. § 109.37."[1]
  • The outcome: The appeal is pending adjudication before the U.S. Supreme Court.


    • The case came on a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. To review the lower court's opinion, click here.

    Background

    Case summary

    The following are the parties to this case:[2]

    • Petitioner: National Republican Senatorial Committee, et al.
      • Legal counsel: Noel John Francisco (Jones Day)
    • Respondent: Federal Election Commission, et al.

    The following summary of the case was published by Oyez, a free law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, Justia, and the Chicago-Kent College of Law:[3]

    “

    In 2022, two Republican party committees—the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee—along with then-Senator J.D. Vance and then-Representative Steve Chabot, sued the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The Republican committees asserted that the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) unconstitutionally restricts their ability to coordinate campaign advertising with their own candidates. This coordination allows the party and its candidates to unify their political message and spend money more efficiently. For example, in the 2021-2022 election cycle, the senatorial committee spent about $15.5 million and the congressional committee spent about $8.3 million on such coordinated expenditures, which primarily fund political advertising.

    The plaintiffs argue that developments since a 2001 Supreme Court decision, FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee (Colorado II), which upheld these same limits, have rendered that decision obsolete. Specifically, they point to changes in campaign finance law, the rise of “Super PACs,” and shifts in the Supreme Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence as reasons the restrictions no longer pass constitutional muster.

    The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. As required by FECA for constitutional challenges, the district court certified the legal question to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sitting en banc. The Sixth Circuit concluded that the FECA’s limits on coordinated campaign expenditures do not violate the First Amendment and denied both the facial and as-applied challenges brought by the plaintiffs.[4]

    		”

    To learn more about this case, see the following:

    Timeline

    The following timeline details key events in this case:

    • December 9, 2025: The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument.
    • June 30, 2025: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
    • December 4, 2024: National Republican Senatorial Committee, et al. appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
    • September 5, 2024: The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit answered the question, ‘Do the limits on coordinated party expenditures in § 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, 52 U.S.C. § 30116, violate the First Amendment, either on their face or as applied to party spending in connection with ‘party coordinated communications’ as defined in 11 C.F.R. § 109.37?’ in the negative.

    Questions presented

    The petitioner presented the following questions to the court:[1]

    Questions presented:
    “ Whether the limits on coordinated party expenditures in 52 U.S.C. § 30116 violate the First Amendment, either on their face or as applied to party spending in connection with ‘party coordinated communications’ as defined in 11 C.F.R. § 109.37.[4] ”

    Oral argument

    Audio

    Audio of oral argument:[5]



    Transcript

    Transcript of oral argument:[6]

    Outcome

    The case is pending adjudication before the U.S. Supreme Court.

    October term 2025-2026

    See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2025-2026

    The Supreme Court began hearing cases for the term on October 6, 2025. The court's yearly term begins on the first Monday in October and lasts until the first Monday in October the following year. The court generally releases the majority of its decisions by mid-June.[7]


    See also

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Supreme Court of the United States, "24-621 NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE V. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION QP", June 30, 2025
    2. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "No. 24-621 National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission" accessed December 10, 2025
    3. ↑ Oyez, "National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission", accessed December 10, 2025
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    5. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "Oral Argument - Audio," argued December 9, 2025
    6. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "Oral Argument - Transcript," argued December 9, 2025
    7. ↑ SupremeCourt.gov, "The Supreme Court at Work: The Term and Caseload," accessed January 24, 2022
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