Votelaw

AP reported Friday,

An appeals court has refused to reconsider its ruling barring the release of documents from a federal investigation into campaign coordination between the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party.

The Federal Election Commission had asked the full federal appeals court in Washington to reconsider a June decision by a three-judge panel of the court prohibiting the record release.

The full court unanimously denied the request, without comment. The court made its decision Sept. 5, but some of those involved in the case, including the commission, didn't receive word of the ruling from the court until Friday.

Siding with the AFL-CIO and the Democratic National Committee, the three-judge panel upheld a lower court decision and ruled in June that letting the FEC release the records to the public would infringe on the free-speech rights of the union and the party.

It said the commission could change its disclosure policy to continue releasing some documents from its investigations without infringing on First Amendment rights.

The commission now must decide whether to pursue an appeal to the Supreme Court, or to write new rules on the disclosure of documents, Commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub said Friday.