In 2004, various law firms, and other organizations, spent millions of dollars challenging Ralph Nader’s independent candidacy’s ballot access in 18 states. On November 9, 2011, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the Federal Election Commission had no duty to investigate whether this spending violated the federal campaign finance laws.

Federal campaign laws make it illegal for corporations to contribute money to federal candidates or to political parties. Nader had charged that the Democratic National Committee had been the beneficiary of a great deal of contributions from incorporated law firms that did so much of the work to remove Nader from various ballots. Nader had asked the FEC to investigate, but the FEC had declined to do so. Nader had then sued the FEC, but the court decision says there is not strong enough evidence that the law firms were coordinating with the Democratic National Committee, or whether they were just doing it on their own. The opinion even assumes that although one member of the Democratic National Committee was herself actively involved in the legal challenge, there is no reason to believe she was coordinating her work with the Democratic Party. Here is the 23-page decision. The case is Nader v FEC, cv-10-989, in Washington, D.C.