While perusing the Twitterverse, I came upon the following article:
Court UPHOLDS Disclosure ruling
That's right, James Bopp LOSES!!!
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit told a pro-life group Tuesday that it has to disclose the names of its donors in accordance with Washington state laws.
Basically, the 9th Circuit CoA has upheld the ruling that says advocacy groups MUST disclose their funders.
Bopp argued that as a "non profit" they didn't have to.
He lost.
Now what does this mean? This sets the legal precedent for overturning Citizens United. Groups can use this case as a beachhead to begin the assault on getting these groups to disclose their funding.
From one of the lawyers involved:
"Today's ruling was a victory for citizens over special interests," said Paul Ryan, Associate Legal Counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, which filed a brief in the case in favor of transparency. "As more and more anonymous special interest money is flooding into the 2010 election cycle, the Ninth Circuit ruling is particularly important in light of the fact that disclosure laws are facing challenges from coast-to-coast."
With this news that disclosure rules are going to be upheld, as well as the disclosure rulings in the Prop 8 case, we are seeing a strong legal foundation for getting full disclosure.
And if we can't stop them from giving money, we should be able to at least know who they are.