National Dems sue over Trump executive order they say could weaponize FEC
Source: Politico
02/28/2025 03:49 PM EST
National Democrats sued Friday to stave off what they say could be President Donald Trump’s destruction of impartial campaign finance regulation by the Federal Election Commission.
The Democratic National Committee and the campaign arms for congressional Democrats say Trump’s executive order taking control of all independent agencies in the Executive Branch means the FEC could now be weaponized against Trump’s political adversaries in ways it was designed to prevent in the aftermath of Watergate.
In particular, Democrats pinpoint a section in the order that requires all executive branch officials to defer to Trump’s own interpretation of the law, rather than any judgments they may reach on their own. In the context of boards and agencies meant to exercise independent judgment, this order could “replace that bipartisan consensus with the judgment of a single partisan political figure—the President of the United States,” they wrote.
Democrats are asking a judge to declare that the FEC’s independence from the president is constitutionally permitted and to bar the Trump White House from attempting to apply his executive order to the agency. The Democrats’ lawsuit is the first specifically aimed at the FEC and to seek to have Trump’s order itself deemed invalid — at least for that agency.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/28/fec-lawsuit-independent-agencies-executive-order-00002733
Link to Democratic Party PRESS RELEASE - DNC, DCCC & DSCC File Lawsuit Against Trump’s Illegal Executive Order Ending Free and Fair Elections
Link to Democracy Docket CASE FILE - Washington, D.C. Federal Election Commission Independence Challenge
Link to COMPLAINT (PDF) - https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/12025-02-28-Complaint.pdf
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