On August 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, enjoined a Federal Election Commission regulation that bars unauthorized political committees that lack any connection to fundraising from using the name of a candidate in the committee’s web page title, or social media page title. Pursuing America’s Greatness v FEC, 15-5264. Here is the 18-page decision.

The decision says if the FEC is worried about confusion over whether a web page is the official voice of that candidate, the FEC is free to require such pages to post disclaimers, saying, “This website is not candidate Doe’s Official Webpage.” The decision points out that the FEC already had an exception to its rule, and that if a web page is clearly opposed to a particular candidate, that type of web page may use the candidate’s name in its title. The decision depends partly on the U.S. Supreme Court decision from last year, Reed v Town of Gilbert, striking down a town ordinance that said signs on certain subjects had to be smaller and taken down more frequently than other types of signs.

The plaintiff had lost in U.S. District Court. The plaintiff had wanted to have a web page titled, “I like Mike Huckabee”, even though it was not the official Huckabee campaign web page. The decision is by Judge Thomas Griffith, a Bush Jr. appointee, and is signed by Judges Brett Kavanaugh, a Bush Jr. appointee, and A. Raymond Randolph, a Bush Sr. appointee.