In Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, the Supreme Court considered whether a political action committee (PAC) could be held liable for failing to register with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The case arose from an FEC investigation into a PAC created by Senator Ted Cruz's campaign during his 2018 re-election bid. The FEC alleged that the PAC had failed to register as required under federal election law and sought civil penalties against it. In its ruling, the Supreme Court found that because PACs are not subject to registration requirements under federal election law, they cannot be held liable for failure to comply with those requirements. As such, it reversed lower court rulings in favor of the FEC and dismissed their claims against Senator Cruz's PAC.

In the case of Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether the Federal Election Commission (FEC) had the authority to regulate the Ted Cruz for Senate Committee’s (TCFS) use of funds for a television advertisement. The majority opinion held that the FEC did not have the authority to regulate the TCFS’s use of funds for the advertisement, as the advertisement did not constitute an “electioneering communication” under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). Justice Breyer, in his dissenting opinion, argued that the majority opinion was too narrow in its interpretation of the FECA. He argued that the FECA should be interpreted broadly to include any communication that could influence an election, regardless of whether it explicitly mentions a candidate or political party. He argued that the TCFS’s advertisement was clearly intended to influence the election, and thus should be subject to regulation by the FEC. He further argued that the majority opinion’s interpretation of the FECA was too narrow and would lead to a situation in which political advertisements could be used to influence elections without any regulation or oversight.