Within the next few weeks, it is likely that the Federal Election Commission will rule on a request by the Socialist Workers Party for an extension of its exemption from reporting who contributes to its federal campaigns.

The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1982 that small political parties that suffer from harrassment from either government agencies, or from private individuals, should not be forced to disclose the identities of people who contribute money to such parties. The FEC has been granting an exemption to the Socialist Workers Party, but the exemptions always expire after six years. The FEC renewed the exemption in 1985, 1991, 1997, and 2003. But in 2003, the vote for an extension was not unanimous, but was 4-2. The two votes in the minority were from Republican David Mason and Democrat Dan McDonald.

The SWP’s exemption expired again on December 31, 2008. The party had submitted evidence of ongoing harassment on October 30, 2008, and the FEC has been pondering the request ever since.

Five of the six FEC Commissioners are very new to the Commission, and weren’t appointed until 2008. The veteran FEC Commissioner is Democrat Ellen Weintraub, who has been serving since 2002. On April 3, 2003, she had voted for another six-year exemption. She said then that with the nation at war, public perception that the views of the SWP are “unpatriotic” and “opposed to the current government” could have a chilling effect on party contributors. She also said in 2003 that “hopefully when this new extension expires in 2008, we will be able to say a further exemption is no longer necessary.”

The other FEC Commissioners are Democrats Cynthia Bauerly and Steven Walther, and Republicans Matthew Petersen, Caroline Hunter, and Donald McGahn.