Cooksey received his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from Truman State University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated with High Honors and Order of the Coif, and served as a Managing Editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.^[2][3]

Legal Career edit

Cooksey served as a law clerk for Judge Jerry Edwin Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He then worked as a litigation associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C. where his practice focused on appeals and constitutional law. He later served as Deputy Chief Counsel for Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. He then served as General Counsel to Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. He advised the Senator on issues including constitutional law, judicial nominations, election law, federal criminal law, and ethics compliance, and served as the Senator's lead staffer on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.^[2]

Federal Election Commission edit

On October 28, 2020, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Cooksey to serve as a Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission.^[2] On October 30, 2020, his nomination was sent to the Senate.^[4] He was nominated to the vacancy created by the retirement of Lee E. Goodman on February 16, 2018. On December 9, 2020, he was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 50–46.^[5]

He was sworn in on December 14, 2020, making him the youngest commissioner in FEC history.^[6][7][8] In December 2022, Dara Lindenbaum was elected Chair of the Federal Election Commission, and Sean J. Cooksey was elected Vice Chairman for 2023.^[9] He was later elected Chairman for 2024.^[10]

As a Commissioner, Cooksey has pushed for the Federal Election Commission to regulate campaign finance consistent with the First Amendment and due process principles. He has called for the repeal of regulations that are inconsistent with the agency’s statutory authority or that federal courts have held unconstitutional.^[11] He has also criticized the agency’s failure to comply with requests under the Freedom of Information Act,^[12] leading to multiple court settlements.^[13]

Cooksey is an advocate for the freedom of the press at the Federal Election Commission and has called for expanding the Commission’s regulatory exemption for press and media activities. In Commission statements, Cooksey has argued against regulating allegedly biased media companies on the internet.^[14] Based on the First Amendment's freedom of the press and the Commission’s press exemption, he has also argued against regulating media-hosted candidate debates,^[15] media entities owned by federal candidates,^[16] or the media appearances of candidates.^[17]

Cooksey has also argued against regulation of political speech and activities on the internet, and he has defended the Federal Election Commission’s regulatory exemption for internet-based political activities. In 2021, he argued in favor of broad exemptions for social media companies to host and moderate political speech on their platforms regardless of political motivation.^[18] In 2022, he criticized proposals for broader internet disclaimer regulations by the Federal Election Commission, which the Commission ultimately scaled back.^[19]

In testimony before the United States House Committee on House Administration, Cooksey defended the Commission’s agency structure from criticism that it causes deadlock or inefficiency, and he argued that the Commission reaches some kind of bipartisan agreement in 90 percent of enforcement matters.^[20]

Cooksey is a Republican. He is a practicing Roman Catholic.^[21]