PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, December 20, 2001
Contact: James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel
Phone 812/232-2434; Fax 812/235-3685
jboppjr@bopplaw.com, www.jamesmadisoncenter.org
 

The James Madison Center for Free Speech, a conservative public interest organization that defends the rights of citizens to participate in our democracy, filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in support of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations ('AFL-CIO") and DNC Services Corporation/Democratic National Committee ("DNC") in their suit against the Federal Election Commission ("FEC") over release of documents obtained in an FEC investigation.

The AFL-CIO and DNC, subjects of a recently closed investigation by the FEC, asked the federal district court in D.C. to enjoin the FEC from releasing confidential information obtained by the FEC from the AFL-CIO and DNC during its now closed investigation of their 1996 election activity.  On December 19, 2001, the district court granted summary judgment, prohibiting the FEC from releasing the documents.

Although ruling on statutory grounds, the Court felt it important to discuss the "critical issue raised by . . . amicus curiae, namely the potential effect of the Commissions's disclosure practice on individuals and groups seeking to participate in political life."

At the heart of the matter is whether the FEC, after an investigation is closed, can lawfully release to the public all the information it has obtained during the investigation.  The James Madison Center argued, in its brief, that the First Amendment rights of free speech and association prohibits the FEC from "automatically releasing, without justification, investigatory information" just because it has that information in its files.

The Court stated, "In view of this overriding concern about infringement of political freedoms, it is clear that the FEC's practice of disclosing to the public information obtained pursuant to its investigatory authority 'carries with it a real potential for chilling the free exercise of political speech and association guarded by the first amendment.'"

James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel for the James Madison Center was very pleased with the outcome stating, "The court's decision protects the First Amendment freedoms of all groups, left and right, by stopping the FEC's automatic release of investigatory documents."

A copy of the Court's opinion may be found at http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/01-1552.pdf.