The Federal Election Commission will not enforce rules struck down by a federal appeals court in the case Emily's List v. FEC, according to a Jan. 12 statement.

The FEC had been weighing whether to appeal a ruling earlier this year that allowed Emily's List and other nonprofit groups to use unlimited contributions from individuals to pay for television advertisements and independent expenditures.

That ruling, handed down by a Washington, D.C. appeals court Sept. 18 agreed with Emily's List that existing regulations violate the group's First Amendment rights to free speech.

The court reviewed a lawsuit brought by Emily's List, which backs female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights. The group challenged four-year-old regulations enacted by the FEC. Those regulations direct nonprofit groups such as Emily's List to pay for election-related activities using "hard money" accounts - money raised from individuals or political action committees that is limited. For instance, an individual can contribute no more than $5,000 a year into Emily's List's hard-money account.

"Nonprofits - like individual citizens - are entitled to spend and raise unlimited money for those activities," a three-judge panel wrote in its majority opinion.

The FEC's decision not to enforce the rules applies to:

• 11 CFR 100.57, which provides that funds solicited to support or oppose federal candidates are subject to "hard money" contribution limits;

• 11 CFR 106.6(c), requiring political action committees to use hard money to pay for at least half of their administrative expenses, generic voter drives, and communications referring to a political party; and

• 11 CFR 106.6(f), requiring PACs to use hard money or a mix of hard money and unlimited "soft money" to finance voter drives and public communications that refer to federal candidates or refer to both federal and non-federal candidates.

While a formal proceeding to remove the rules is pending, the FEC outlined in its statement "the general principles" it will apply in light of the court ruling. The affected rules will not be enforced, and their reporting requirements will be waived, the statement said.