Litigation

Supreme Court: WA Campaign Disclosure Laws Stand

By Peter Hardin

After a federal appeals court upheld Washington state?s campaign finance disclosure laws, the Supreme Court today declined to take up an appeal by the losing side.

Human Life of Washington, which was ordered to make public its donors for a campaign opposing the state?s assisted suicide ballot measure, had filed the unsuccessful appeal bid with the nation’s highest court.

A panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in October the Washington statute did not violate the First Amendment rights of Human Life of Washington (see Gavel Grab).

The group had maintained that the state?s disclosure requirements for political committees, independent expenditures, and political advertising were unconstitutional. It was represented by James Bopp, an Indiana-based lawyer who has challenged campaign finance regulations across the country.

Today, the Supreme Court denied Human Life of Washington’s appeal bid without comment, according to a Spokesman-Review article. It was headlined, “Court rejects appeal to hide campaign donors.”

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed applauded today’s action by the Supreme Court, according to a KING 5 News report.

“We in Washington have long valued transparency in our elections process, and we welcome the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary upholding our sensible requirements that allow us to know who is participating in our campaigns,” said Reed.

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 22, 2011 (boomark / email).