Federal Election Commission v. Akins

Supreme Court of the United States · 1998 · Constitutional Law

524 U.S. 11 (1998)

Updated July 29, 2026

Constitutional LawStandingInformational InjuryAdministrative LawElection LawArticle III standingprudential standinginjury in fact

Facts

The FEC determined that AIPAC was not a "political committee" under FECA and therefore refused to require it to disclose information about its membership, contributions, and expenditures. Respondents, a group of voters, had complained to the FEC that AIPAC had made more than $1,000 in qualifying expenditures and should be required to register and make public the disclosures FECA requires of political committees. The FEC dismissed the complaint on the ground that AIPAC did not have as its "major purpose" the nomination or election of candidates, even though related issues concerning the membership-communications exception remained unsettled. Respondents sought judicial review, claiming injury from their inability to obtain information that FECA, on their view, required AIPAC to disclose.

Issue

Do voters have Article III and prudential standing to challenge the FEC's dismissal of their complaint when the alleged injury is the inability to obtain information that FECA allegedly requires a political committee to disclose? If so, should the Court also decide whether an organization falls outside FECA's definition of "political committee" because electing candidates is not its major purpose?

Rule

When a statute requires public disclosure of information and Congress authorizes aggrieved persons to seek judicial review, a voter's inability to obtain that information is a sufficiently concrete and particular injury to satisfy Article III, even if many other voters share the same injury. Such an informational injury is fairly traceable to an agency's allegedly unlawful dismissal of a complaint and redressable by a court order setting aside that decision and remanding, even if the agency retains later enforcement discretion.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

Congress enacts the Federal Advocacy Disclosure Act, requiring any group that spends more than a statutory threshold on election-related mailers to file public reports listing donors and expenditures. In Phoenix, Nora Velasquez files an administrative complaint alleging that Desert Beacon Forum crossed the threshold, but the agency dismisses the complaint, and Nora says she cannot obtain the donor and spending information the statute requires.

Does Nora most likely have Article III standing to seek judicial review of the dismissal?

Explanation. The majority held that a plaintiff suffers injury in fact when she cannot obtain information that, on her view of the law, a statute requires to be made public. That informational deprivation is concrete and particular enough for Article III, especially where the information would help evaluate candidates and election-related activity. Economic loss or direct targeting is not required, and standing is not limited to candidates.