Alliance for Justice Testifies at FEC Hearing on Citizens United Ruling

Statement from Nan Aron, President of the Alliance for Justice

March 2, 2010, Washington, DC— Attorney Michael B. Trister of Lichtman, Trister & Ross, PLLC testified on behalf of the Alliance for Justice at the Public Hearing on Coordinated Communications of the Federal Election Commission (FEC).   Trister testified that the FEC must continue to strike a balance as it seeks to redefine coordinated communications following the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizen’s United.

In the wake of the Citizen’s United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, the issue of coordinated communications is particularly salient.  Citizen’s United gave corporations an unlimited ability to independently spend money on communications to support or oppose a candidate.  The FEC sets the coordinated communications rule which regulates the line between independent expenditures and those expenditures that are made in “coordination” or with the tacit or explicit knowledge or understanding of a campaign or candidate.

“The scope of the statutory prohibition on coordinated expenditures has long presented one of the most vexing issues facing the Federal Election Commission,” Nan Aron, President of Alliance for Justice, said. “While coordinated communications should not be a means by which federal election contribution limitations can be circumvented, the prohibition on coordinated communications cannot be interpreted in a way that will discourage valuable and legitimate efforts by Americans to influence legislation and public policy debates.”

Trister’s testimony reflected the comments submitted by Alliance for Justice and the AFL-CIO in response to the FEC’s notice of proposed rulemaking on coordinated communications.

For more information about the impact of the Court’s decision in Citizen’s United, see http://www.afj.org/connect-with-the-issues/citizens-united-overview.html.