The Supreme Court handed Republicans a massive win for the campaign trail in an 8-1 ruling that allows for coordinated activity between campaigns and the party to receive discounted ad rates.
🚨 In a likely 8-1 vote, the Supreme Court has restored, for now, an FCC policy that could magnify Republicans’ party-level cash advantage by letting parties and certain joint fundraising committees get discounted broadcast ad rates for ads coordinated with candidates. pic.twitter.com/9aPBY9iP0W
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) September 4, 2026
NEW
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) September 4, 2026
I welcome today’s Supreme Court decision on litigation involving the FCC’s lowest unit charge (LUC).
The Supreme Court has now stayed a lower court ruling that purported to hold that broadcasters are not required to offer the LUC to candidate-party coordinated & JFC ads. pic.twitter.com/fgY8MW0rXH
The Court issued a stay in the case, concluding that a Fourth Circuit ruling was contrary to that of rulings from numerous other circuits, and that the Democrat candidates launched suits despite their pending challenge to the new FCC rule.
The lone justice dissenting was the ever-radical Ketanji Brown Jackson, who broke with her liberal allies on the Court to claim that the stay should not have been issued.
With the Supreme Court reinstating the rule, political groups and candidates will be able to coordinate their spending on advertisements to receive the best possible rate from networks ahead of the midterms. Republicans maintain a ginormous cash advantage over their Democrat adversaries already, allowing the GOP to stretch those dollars even further.
As the midterm elections are just 58 days away, the new ruling will give Republicans a leg up in the final stretch of the campaign season.