Marking a significant victory for the president, a federal judge dismissed a Democratic National Committee (DNC) lawsuit claiming President Donald Trump’s February 18 executive order, “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” threatened the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) independence.
For context, since assuming office for the second time in 2025, Trump has been swamped with civil lawsuits designed to slow his progress in pursuing his America First agenda. While many of these cases are still pending in court, this dismissal is a strong indication that Trump will be vindicated in court.
This was demonstrated when U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, ruled that the DNC had failed to prove “concrete and imminent injury” to justify an injunction, finding their concerns to be speculative. He blasted the idea that Trump had violated the independence of the FEC.
Explaining his decision, Ali said, “The lawsuit focused largely on the claim that the FEC is an independent regulatory agency and argued that the credibility of the entire regulatory enterprise would be ‘fatally undermined if the party controlling the White House can unilaterally structure campaign rules and adjudicate disputes to disadvantage its electoral competitors.'”
Providing additional context, he said, “The ‘possibility that the president and attorney general would take the extraordinary step of issuing a directive to the FEC or its Commissioners purporting to bind their interpretation of FECA is not sufficiently concrete and imminent to create Article III injury.'”
Concluding his remarks, the courageous judge said, “This Court’s doors are open to the parties if changed circumstances show concrete action or impact on the FEC’s or its Commissioners’ independence.”
Trump’s historic February 18, 2025, executive order began with an explanation of his powers as defined in the Constitution. The EO began, “The Constitution vests all executive power in the President and charges him with faithfully executing the laws. Since it would be impossible for the President to single-handedly perform all the executive business of the Federal Government, the Constitution also provides for subordinate officers to assist the President in his executive duties.”
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Continuing the lesson in constitutional history, the EO stated, “In the exercise of their often-considerable authority, these executive branch officials remain subject to the President’s ongoing supervision and control. The President in turn is regularly elected by and accountable to the American people.”
Still not done the EO described, “However, previous administrations have allowed so-called “independent regulatory agencies” to operate with minimal Presidential supervision. These regulatory agencies currently exercise substantial executive authority without sufficient accountability to the President, and through him, to the American people. Moreover, these regulatory agencies have been permitted to promulgate significant regulations without review by the President. ”
Explaining Trump’s solution to this problem, the EO stated, “Therefore, in order to improve the administration of the executive branch and to increase regulatory officials’ accountability to the American people, it shall be the policy of the executive branch to ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch.”
Concluding the order, the Whitehouse wrote, “Moreover, all executive departments and agencies, including so-called independent agencies, shall submit for review all proposed and final significant regulatory actions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Executive Office of the President before publication in the Federal Register.”