Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency created by the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971, enacted in the wake of the Watergate scandal to police the financing of campaigns for the presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Its statutory authority is codified at 52 U.S.C. § 30106 (formerly 2 U.S.C. § 437c). The agency's birth was complicated by Buckley v. Valeo (424 U.S. 1, 1976), in which the Supreme Court held that Congress could not appoint the FEC's voting members consistent with the Appointments Clause (Article II, § 2); Congress reconstituted the Commission so that all six members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Buckley also struck down mandatory campaign expenditure limits as violating the First Amendment while upholding contribution limits and disclosure requirements — the doctrinal framework the FEC still operates within.

The Commission is deliberately bipartisan and structurally prone to deadlock: it has six commissioners, no more than three from any single political party, each serving a six-year term, with the chairmanship rotating annually. Crucially, four affirmative votes are required for almost any significant action — opening an investigation, issuing an advisory opinion, promulgating regulations, or finding "reason to believe" a violation occurred. This four-vote rule means a three-three party split halts enforcement. The FEC administers contribution limits, the ban on corporate and union treasury funds in candidate elections, the foreign-national contribution prohibition, and mandatory public disclosure of receipts and disbursements through filings such as the FEC Form 3. It also administers the presidential public financing system funded by the tax checkoff, though candidates have largely abandoned it since 2008.

Landmark litigation has continuously reshaped the FEC's mandate. McConnell v. FEC (2003) upheld the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA, McCain-Feingold, 2002) soft-money and electioneering-communication restrictions; Citizens United v. FEC (558 U.S. 310, 2010) then struck down the ban on independent corporate and union political expenditures, and SpeechNow.org v. FEC (D.C. Cir., 2010) gave rise to "Super PACs" that may raise unlimited sums for independent expenditures. As of 2026 the FEC has frequently struggled to maintain a quorum (four members) and to muster the four votes needed for enforcement, drawing persistent criticism that it is structurally gridlocked. It is distinct from the Election Assistance Commission, which deals with election administration and voting systems, not money.

For the FSOT fsot-us-government section, the FEC appears in questions on independent regulatory agencies, the separation-of-powers limits of the Appointments Clause, and the First Amendment treatment of campaign finance. Examiners commonly test the Buckley distinction between contributions and expenditures, the Citizens United holding and its Super PAC consequence, and the six-member bipartisan structure with its four-vote and deadlock dynamics. Candidates should be able to name the FEC's FECA statutory basis, distinguish hard money from soft money, and connect BCRA to McConnell and Citizens United in a single doctrinal arc.