On October 19, U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates refused to order the Federal Election Commission to decide whether a presidential candidate who seeks the nomination of his or her party, but who doesn’t get that nomination, can then transfer unspent campaign funds to a political party in excess of the normal limits on contributions to political parties. Here is the 29-page opinion. McCutcheon v FEC, U.S. District Court, D.C., 1:20cv-2485.

The lawsuit had been filed by Shaun McCutcheon, who had briefly sought the Libertarian presidential nomination earlier this year. When he didn’t get the presidential nomination, he asked the FEC if he could transfer $50,000 to the Libertarian Party. The FEC did not issue an opinion, even though McCutcheon pointed out that Michael Bloomberg had given $18,000,000 to the Democratic Party after losing the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. The FEC needs four votes (from the six members) to issue an opinion, but for most of this year, it hasn’t had a quorum.

Judge Bates said that the issue of whether such donations are legal is not settled. The opinion says, “it is far from clear where the FEC – or a court deciding the question on the merits – would come down.” He also wrote, “The Court’s preliminary injunction analysis need not and will not reach a dispositive conclusion on the ultimate legality of the proposed transfers.” Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for this news.