In the complaint, which was addressed to FEC Acting General Counsel Lisa Stevenson, the Kennedy campaign alleges that the parties designed criteria "to result in the selection of certain pre-chosen participants, namely Biden and Trump, in a clear breach of federal campaign finance law."

Under FEC law, media broadcasters are required to use "pre-established" and "objective" criteria to determine debate eligibility for candidates. CNN is not permitted to pre-select candidates and debate hosts are not allowed to "use nomination by a particular political party as the sole objective criterion to determine whether to include a candidate in a debate."