End Citizens United PAC v. FEC, No. 22-5176 (D.C. Cir. 2023)
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This appeal arises from the denial of a motion for a default judgment. End Citizens United (“ECU”) sued the Federal Election Commission alleging the Commission unlawfully dismissed its administrative complaint. Although the Commission failed to enter an appearance or otherwise defend the lawsuit, the district court denied ECU’s motion based on the Commission’s after-the-fact explanation for its dismissal. The issue on appeal is whether the district court erred by relying on the non-contemporaneous explanation in light of well-established circuit precedent requiring the Commission to provide a timely explanation of its reason for dismissing an administrative complaint.
The DC Circuit reversed the district court’s judgment and remanded the case to it with instructions to return the case to the Commission. The court explained that here the Commission has not defended its decision in court, much less the reasoning in the Dickerson/Cooksey statement. Moreover, the Commission’s composition has apparently changed since its dismissal of ECU’s administrative complaint so that different “agency personnel” would consider the matter on remand. In any event, the Supreme Court has contemplated that “a reviewing court . . . will set aside” Commission action taken contrary to law and “remand the case,” even though the Commission might later “reach the same result exercising its discretionary powers lawfully.”
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