In a victory for more open presidential debates, a US District Court ruled yesterday against the FEC in Level the Playing Field vs the Federal Election Commission, in which the Libertarian Party is a co-plaintiff. We won this case! The judge ruled that the FEC clearly ignored the very substantial evidence submitted by the plaintiffs that indicate that the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is rigged in favor of the Republicans and Democrats.

Thankfully, the judge saw the evidence for what it is: proof that the CPD is heavily biased towards the Rs and Ds and eager to find any excuse to keep other candidates off the debate stage. The court ordered the FEC to reconsider the plaintiffs’ allegations against the CPD within 30 days and reconsider its refusal to reconsider the request for a rulemaking within 60 days.

Libertarian National Committee chair, Nicholas Sarwark, says, “For decades, the CPD has operated in a manner designed to support and perpetuate the two old parties and protect them from any political competition. And for decades, the FEC has been complicit by willfully ignoring the evidence that the CPD is running an illegal bipartisan campaign commercial. We hope that this ruling will get the FEC to start following and enforcing the law fairly.”

He continues, “Kudos to Alexandra Shapiro for her skillful presentation of the law and the overwhelming evidence that the CPD is violating the FEC’s rules. And bravo to Judge Chutkan for seeing the FEC’s ignoring of that law and evidence for what it was and ordering them to go back and do their job.”

Note: This lawsuit is separate from the antitrust lawsuit against the CPD. At any given time, the Libertarian Party is involved with several lawsuits on issues relating to ballot access and other aspects of the electoral process.

Reprinted from article by Wes Benedict
LP Executive Director