For many years, the Federal Election Commission was stalemated by clashes between Commissioners with differing views of the role and power of the federal agency over federal elections and campaign finance. Then, at the end of 2020, Allen Dickerson was confirmed as a new Commissioner. It was a pivotal moment in FEC history: it broke the stalemates, added a courageous defender of the First Amendment with an experienced litigator’s instincts and deep knowledge of the statutory and Constitutional laws which governed the FEC.

Allen Dickerson joined the Federal Election Commission on December 18, 2020, following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate, filling an open Republican seat. He served as Chairman in 2022 and Vice Chair in 2021.

Prior to his appointment, Dickerson was Legal Director of the Institute for Free Speech, where he led a nationwide First Amendment litigation practice. While at IFS, he argued more than a dozen appeals, testified regularly before Congress, state legislatures, and regulatory agencies, and was a frequent speaker on campaign finance and political regulation topics. He was an active and thoughtful participant in the First Tuesday Lunch group, a national informal association of hundreds of election law and nonprofit advocacy attorneys that met monthly. Earlier in his career, he was an associate with Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York and an attorney for the Republican Governors Association.

Barnaby Zall, President of the Public Policy Legal Institute (host of this blog Vox PPLI) wrote to his colleagues in the First Tuesday Lunch group:

I have long considered Allen a friend, a professional of rare grace and ability, a great co-counsel to work with, and one of the best Commissioners in FEC history. We will all miss his succinct, persuasive and insightful writings, his strength of purpose and understanding of the complex and difficult task set out by the organic statute and Constitution, and his ability to work with others across the aisle and outside the agency, with integrity, humor, and humility. 

His joining the FEC led to the ending of stalemate at the Commission, added an immense understanding of the complicated and controversial First Amendment principles and precedents handled by the only federal agency designed to referee administrative questions involving election-related speech and participation, and provided a welcome new, courageous and active voice to a formerly dysfunctional agency. We who practice in this area owe Allen tremendous thanks for his sacrifice in joining and remaining on the FEC during difficult times. As do the millions of Americans who participate in federal politics every year. 

Thank you, Allen.

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