The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with Republicans a second time in a legal battle over television advertising costs in the lead-up to the midterm elections, prompting two liberal justices to dissent. Democrats are challenging a new policy that guarantees party committees, not just candidates, access to cheaper rates. That cheaper…
Page B41From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 14 October 2026
Republicans ask Supreme Court for cheaper campaign ads, get cheaper campaign ads, ask again, get them again
As it ran on the front
On August 31, the Republican Party's national campaign arms filed a request with the Supreme Court. An appeals court had just ruled that only candidates — not party committees — qualify for the lowest advertising rate broadcasters are required to offer under federal law, a rate set lower than what outside groups pay. The Republican committees wanted that cheaper rate too, and they wanted the Supreme Court to overrule the appeals court before the filing deadline for midterm ad buys came and went.
They got it four days later. On September 4, the Court ruled 8-1 to halt the appeals court's decision, clearing the way for party committees — Republican and Democratic alike, though only one side had asked — to buy at the candidate rate.…
…(cont) On October 6, Justice Samuel Alito told CBS News that criticism of the Supreme Court from political leaders can be "quite damaging."
Two days after that, on October 8, the Trump administration's Justice Department went back to the same court over the same case. The Fourth Circuit had weighed in again, and the department asked the Justices to overrule it a second time — not a party to the underlying dispute, the federal government asking the Supreme Court to referee a fight between the two parties over the price of a television ad.
On Wednesday, October 14, the Court did it again. Seven to two this time, with two justices dissenting, the Court halted the Fourth Circuit a second time and left the cheaper rate in place for both parties' committees, the same outcome the Republican campaign arms had asked for in August, got in September, and asked for again in October.
The dissent is the only part of the ledger that changed between September and October — two justices instead of one. The rate itself, and the party that keeps asking the Court to protect it, did not change at all. The appeals court that keeps getting overruled is the same appeals court. The question it keeps answering — whether a party committee is entitled to the same broadcast discount as a candidate — is the same question.
“This ain't law, it's a vending machine — you put in a filing, you get out a ruling, and it dispenses the same can of soda every single time to the same guy. The Justice Department isn't defending the country here, it's running errands for a campaign committee's media budget, and the Supreme Court keeps holding the door.”
“Look, equal treatment under the statute means equal treatment — if the rate applies to one party's committees it applies to both, that's not a win, that's just reading the text as written. The fact that only one side bothered to file — well, that's not really — okay, maybe don't lead with that part.”
Earlier in this story
- Trump empanels a committee to fire a Fed governor the Supreme Court already said he couldn't fire. By Ruth · the evening edition, 14 October 2026
The receipts
The Supreme Court handed the Federal Communications Commission a victory on Wednesday in a legal battle over who is entitled to favorable advertising rates in the closing weeks of the costly, hotly contested midterm elections. The high court ruled 7-2 to halt a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that […]
· DOJ pulls Supreme Court into FCC fight over favorable campaign ad rates from the morgue, 8 Oct 2026
· Trump administration brings fight over political ad rates back to Supreme Court from the morgue, 8 Oct 2026
· Supreme Court hands GOP major campaign finance win ahead of costly midterm elections from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· GOP campaign arms ask Supreme Court to intervene in TV ad rate case from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· Alito slams criticism of Supreme Court from political leaders, says it can be "quite damaging" from the morgue, 6 Oct 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.