U.S. Supreme Court May Consider Alaska’s ‘Dark Money’ Disclosure Rules

Opponents of an Alaska law requiring disclosure of political donors’ dark money are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the law.

A group of Republican and Republican-leaning plaintiffs filed a petition with the high court last week.

Under Alaska law, donors are required to disclose to local candidates the “true source” of significant contributions from politically oriented groups.

In other states, donors often conceal their political activity by donating to a politically oriented nonprofit, which then gives money to a candidate. These donations are often referred to as “dark money”.

Usually, campaign disclosure laws only list the nonprofit as the source of the money, but Alaska’s law was designed to reveal the true donor.

The names of major donors must be listed in advertising, and an advertisement must include a warning message if the majority of donations come from out of state.

The plaintiffs in the case are represented by former Alaska Attorney General Craig Richards and the Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center, which argued in its filing last week that the law could violate the First Amendment .

The motion asks the court to review a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected an injunction to suspend the law that was put in place as part of Ballot Measure 2 in 2020. Separate provisions of the law created the state’s open primary and public elections. general elections with preferential choice.

The appeal came after Alaska U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason denied the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction ahead of the 2022 state election.

In her order denying the injunction, she concluded that Alaska’s disclosure laws are narrowly written and are not burdensome, redundant or unconstitutional.

Mandatory disclosures, she said, serve an “important informational interest and are narrowly tailored to serve that interest.”

The Alaska Public Offices Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the state’s campaign finance laws, has until July 17 to file a document responding to the plaintiffs’ motion.