WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, granted emergency application No. 26A274, National Republican Congressional Committee v. Brown, staying a Fourth Circuit mandate that had blocked political party committees and joint fundraising committees from preferential “lowest unit charge” broadcast rates for candidate-use TV ads in the midterm window, the Court’s docket and SCOTUSblog reported.

The application for stay, presented to Chief Justice John Roberts and by him referred to the Court, “is granted,” the docket states. “The mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in case No. 26–1785 is recalled and stayed pending the filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.” The order is per curiam; Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissents in a detached opinion.

Under 47 U.S.C. § 315(b), during the 45 days before a primary and 60 days before a general, broadcasters must charge legally qualified candidates no more than the station’s lowest unit charge for the same class and amount of time. An FCC Media Bureau public notice (DA 26-300, March 30, 2026) said parties and joint fundraising committees can also qualify for those rates for candidate-use advertising. A divided Fourth Circuit panel in Brown v. FCC, No. 26-1785, set that notice aside, holding the statute limits the benefit to a candidate’s own use — a ruling the NRCC and NRSC said would scramble midterm TV buys as the 60-day general-election window opened Friday. The United States and FCC had supported the stay; Democratic respondents opposing it include Sherrod Brown, Sen. Jon Ossoff, Roy Cooper, and Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet.

As a practical matter, Friday’s stay keeps lowest-unit / candidate-rate TV access available to the NRCC, NRSC, and party-coordinated ads while the Court considers certiorari — the relief the committees sought in their Aug. 28 application. For the petition-stage filing, see our Sept. 2 Politics piece.

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