Yesterday, the US Supreme Court rejected the National Organization for Marriage's appeal of a US appeals court decision that upheld Maine's election laws that require organizations to disclose their donors. In 2009 NOM spent $1.8 million dollars to help repeal marriage equality in Maine. From Reuters:
"These provisions neither erect a barrier to political speech nor limit its quantity. Rather, they promote the dissemination of information about those who deliver and finance political speech, thereby encouraging efficient operation of the marketplace of ideas," the appeals court ruled...Based on how hard they've fought against revealing their donors, I'm guessing we'll see a very small set of very big donors. If there is one thing voters in Maine don't like, it's the feeling that a few outside forces are trying to buy their elections.
...[NOM] filed the lawsuit in 2009 and claimed the laws violated its constitutional free-speech and due process rights.
Maine defended its laws and said they were designed to inform voters about who is spending money to influence their votes. The federal government and most other states have similar requirements, it said.
