WASHINGTON -- A Federal Election Commission rule preventing a group from starting an "I Like Mike Huckabee" Facebook page "likely violates the First Amendment," by improperly limiting free speech, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a lower court ruling that upheld the restriction.
The 3-0 decision comes more than a year after the original lawsuit was filed.
Currently, a political action committee that is authorized by a candidate to raise and spend money must include the name of the office seeker in its own name. An unauthorized PAC, on the other hand, is prohibited from naming itself after a candidate that it supports. An unauthorized PAC that is created to defeat a candidate can include that office seeker's name in its own if the PAC name "clearly and unambiguously shows opposition" to the candidate.
The restrictions applied not only to PAC names, but to the titles of PAC's "online projects, websites or social media" efforts, the court said.
Pursuing America's Greatness, the political action committee challenging the rule, was originally formed to promote former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's 2016 presidential bid.
Under Federal Election Commission rules, a "We Hate Huckabee" website would have been permissible if it were started by an anti-Huckabee PAC.
But a "We Like Mike" page, created by an unauthorized pro-Huckabee PAC, was forbidden.
The commission denied the rule was a "content-based restriction" on free speech, arguing that the rule simply lessened the chances of voter confusion and decreased the chances of fundraising fraud. The agency classified the ban as a disclosure requirement.
The PAC maintained that the restriction on its use of Huckabee's name was "a classic restraint on political speech."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed.
Although the agency's concern about voter confusion is valid, there are other, less-restrictive ways to avoid potential misunderstandings, the court said. The commission, for example, could require that the projects contain large disclaimers informing readers that it wasn't authorized by the candidate.
The three-judge panel also said the commission was understating the effect that its rule would have on speech.
"The title is a critical way for committees to attract support and spread their message because it tells users that the website or Facebook page is about the candidate. Without a candidate's name, the title does not provide the same signaling to the audience. Allowing a committee to talk about a candidate in the body of a website is of no use if no one reaches the website," the court ruled.
Although Huckabee suspended his campaign after his ninth-place finish in the Iowa caucus, Pursuing America's Greatness has said it will continue to operate and support other candidates in the future.
It's unclear if the agency will appeal the decision.
A Federal Election Commission spokesman declined to address the ruling Wednesday. The PAC and its attorney didn't respond to messages seeking comment.
Attorney Christina Martin, who filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the James Madison Center for Free Speech and the Pacific Legal Foundation, said the ruling was a victory for the First Amendment.
The restriction "just didn't make any sense. The rule was pretty ridiculous," she said. "There's better ways to prevent confusion than an outright ban on using ... the name of the person you're supporting."
A Section on 08/11/2016