The FEC routinely fails to enforce campaign finance laws. Congress anticipated the possibility of FEC inaction and authorized lawsuits to compel agency enforcement actions. Realizing that FEC delays may persist even in the face of a court order, Congress also authorized citizen enforcement suits to ensure that protracted FEC delays don’t undermine our political system.

After the FEC failed to take action for over three years, CLC filed suit against the dark money group Heritage Action for America to enforce disclosure laws. Heritage Action spent over $1 million to influence federal elections in 2018 cycle without reporting its funding sources. 

CLC assisted in the successful defense of a Rhode Island transparency law requiring groups that spend significant amounts of money to influence state elections to disclose their spending and certain contributors to voters.