Breaking: US Supreme Court Kicks NOM To The Curb Over Donors

The U.S. Supreme Court is refusing to hear NOM’s appeal in a donor disclosure case.

The U.S. Supreme Court has just announced it is refusing to hear an appeal on a donor disclosure case filed by NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, ProtectMarriage.com, and other related groups. The case centers on the groups’ desire to not comply with California state laws requiring the disclosure of names of campaign donors. NOM has historically fought to keep donor names secret, and has lost other similar cases.

Supreme Court justices today let stand a 9th Circuit court of Appeals ruling requiring NOM and ProtectMarriage.com to disclose names of people who donated $100 or more to its Prop 8 campaign.

LOOK: NOM’s ‘Dirty Money’ And Dirty Tactics Revealed In Shocking New Exposé

The groups, often using flimsy “evidence,” like anonymous comments on blogs, have tried but failed to prove they need to keep secret the names of their donors, to protect them from harassment and possible violence.

But in internal documents, NOM even wrote, “One key advantage we now have is the capacity to protect the identity of our donors.”

The AP reports the “9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against them in part because the names have been publicly available for five years.”

In 2012, Mainers United For Marriage charged in a separate instance that NOM “laundered a quarter of a million dollars” into the Maine marriage campaign, a violation of state law. In 2013, the Maine State Supreme Court ordered the National Organization for Marriage to turn over the names of its donors to its 2009 campaign to repeal same-sex marriage.

 

Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr and a CC license