Part of NOM's lawsuit against the IRS was successful, for which they won $50,000, but most of it wasn't. Pursuing the unsuccessful part cost them $691,000.
From LGBTQ Nation:
In June, a federal court ordered the U.S. government to pay $50,000 to the NOM after the group claimed that confidential donor information from its 2008 tax returns was “leaked” to an activist and later published by the Human Rights Campaign and the Huffington Post.
The court dismissed the majority of the lawsuit, and said the NOM failed to provide any evidence that the disclosure was deliberate and politically motivated.
The NOM subsequently filed a motion seeking $691,000 in attorneys’ fees related to the case. The court denied that request on October 16.
Their incurring of these fees is their own fault. They are entitled to the legal fees that they incurred in pursuing the parts of the case that they won. They are not entitled to the legal fees that they incurred in pursuing the parts of the case that they lost. They shouldn't have pushed the parts of the lawsuit that are not true, and that they couldn't prove.
But it's no surprise that they'll be moving to recoup the losses of their own stupidity. Having finished 2013 $2.5 million in debt, you'd understand why they feel they have no choice.