Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Lower Court Ruling on TV Ad Rates for GOP Committees
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The Supreme Court issued an emergency order halting a lower-court decision that had limited discounted broadcast ad rates to Democratic candidates, allowing Republican party committees to continue seeking lower prices ahead of the midterms.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted an emergency appeal filed by Republican campaign committees, pausing a lower-court ruling that had restricted discounted television advertising rates to Democratic candidates. The high court’s unsigned order, with one justice dissenting, stops the 4th Circuit’s decision that had required party-coordinated ads to pay higher prices.
The Republican National Congressional Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee argued that broadcasters were charging them rates that exceeded the discounts allowed under federal law, jeopardizing their campaign budgets. The court’s majority said the lower court had acted prematurely, while Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted that the court likely should have awaited an internal FCC review.
The move follows a June Supreme Court decision that lifted limits on coordinated spending by parties and candidates, a change viewed as advantageous to the GOP, which holds a cash advantage at the national level. Under existing regulations, candidates receive discounted TV rates during election periods, and the FCC’s Media Bureau has indicated that certain party-coordinated ads qualify for the same discounts.
The Supreme Court’s order states that “current and future recissions will require the party committees to pay more for advertising space, thereby hampering their efforts to reach the electorate in the critical weeks leading up to the midterms.” The decision remains in effect while the Republican committees prepare a full appeal.