Supreme Court Again Sides With Republicans in FCC Political Ad Rate Fight

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with Republicans again in a dispute over a Federal Communications Commission policy that extends discounted TV and radio advertising rates to party committees, agreeing to let the agency avoid a deadline that would have forced it to rule on a Democratic challenge before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The FCC filed the stay request together with two Republican committees. The court's 6-3 conservative majority granted the request, with liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicating they would have denied it.

At issue is the FCC's so-called lowest unit charge rule, which the agency's 2-1 Republican majority modified in March under Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump ally. The policy requires broadcasters to charge discounted rates for certain political advertisements aired within 60 days of a general election, a window that opened on September 4. An FCC spokesperson said the court's decision was right on the law and avoided the prospect of changing political advertising rules in the middle of an ongoing election.

The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ordered the FCC on October 7 to issue a prompt ruling on the Democratic in-house challenge, filed more than five months earlier, with a 2-1 panel saying its willingness to tolerate the agency's delay tactics had ended. Chief Justice John Roberts had already lifted the October 9 deadline the appeals court set. In filings, the Republican committees accused the 4th Circuit of short-circuiting the FCC's review process, while the Democratic candidates accused the agency of waging blatant procedural trench warfare to postpone judicial review until it no longer mattered.

It was the second time in recent weeks that the justices have weighed in on the policy. In September, the Supreme Court voted 8-1 to revive it after the 4th Circuit blocked it, ruling that Democratic candidates must wait for the FCC to rule before filing a court challenge. A group of Democratic candidates, including Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, filed the challenge through FCC in-house proceedings in April; when the agency took no action, they succeeded at the 4th Circuit before the Supreme Court halted that ruling.

The policy has taken on greater weight since the Supreme Court in June struck down federal restrictions on spending coordinated between parties and their candidates, siding with Republican challengers including Vice President JD Vance. Republican committees have since moved well past the former national caps, exceeding them by more than $48 million in Federal Election Commission spending disclosures for July and August, compared with just under $4 million for their Democratic counterparts. The three main national Republican committees ended August with roughly $233 million in cash, while Democratic committees held about $130 million and carried nearly $18 million in debt, according to FEC filings.