On January 5, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan held oral argument in Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission, 1:15cv-1397. The issue is whether the FEC has a duty to determine whether the Commission on Presidential Debates is breaking federal campaign finance law when it lets the Commission spend corporate-donated money on the general election presidential debates. UPDATE: here is a news story about the hearing.

Judge Chutkan said that it appears the FEC did not evaluate the voluminous evidence presented to it that the Commission is, indeed, in a realistic sense, contributing to the campaigns of the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees. She asked the attorney for the FEC how she could defer to the FEC when it appears the FEC hasn’t done a real analysis.