Dem
47
GOP
53
Early in his term, Donald Trump signed an XO asserting that all executive branch agencies must obey legal opinions issued by the attorney general. It also said that agencies could not advance any legal position that contradicts the AG or the president. In the past, they had only to obey the law and court decisions, not whatever the AG thought up one fine morning. Democrats were worried that AG Pam Bondi might issue some opinion about elections that helped the Republicans, and the Federal Election Commission would then be bound by it, so they sued.
On Tuesday, Judge Amir Ali, a Joe Biden appointee, threw out the Democrats' lawsuit on the grounds that they had no standing to sue because they could not show they had already been damaged by the XO. Generally, people can sue the government only if they can show how the government has damaged them in some way. Amir wasn't convinced that any such damage had already occurred. The Democrats argued that they are now making decisions in such a way as to avoid having the FEC make rulings on them, because the FEC is now obligated to do whatever the AG tells it to do. The judge didn't buy it. He wanted a concrete example of the damage the XO has already done to the party and the blue team didn't have one.
However, he did note that should circumstances arise in which they could show actual damages, then they were welcome to refile the case. (V)