On June 28, Jill Stein filed this brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, in her lawsuit over 2016 primary season matching funds. Stein v FEC, 21-1213. The FEC has demanded that Stein repay $175,272. It says the FEC overpaid her and it wants the repayment back.

Stein disputes that she was overpaid. She raises a constitutional challenge to the period during which a minor party candidate is eligible. Generally a presidential candidate seeking the nomination of a party, or various parties, can have the FEC match the money she or he has raised, until after all those nominations are settled. But there is an additional rule that the FEC relies on, that regardless of whether all the relevant minor party nomination contests are settled, the period stops when both the major parties have had their national conventions.

That latter rule was not a problem in 2012, the first year Stein ran. The two major parties had not finished their national conventions until September 6, 2012. That was so late, all the nominations Stein was seeking (Peace & Freedom, Green) had been settled by late August. But in 2016, the two major parties made a drastic change in their national convention dates. Both major parties had finished their national conventions by July 28, 2016, so the FEC disallowed all the money Stein had raised between July 28, 2016, and late August 2016, when the Peace & Freedom convention was over. Stein argues that the major party convention dates should be irrelevant.

There are other, non-constitutional issues in this case also.