Supreme Court to hear appeal of California’s charity donors law

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider whether California's law requiring nonprofits to disclose the names of large donors to the state attorney general's office is unconstitutional.

Attorneys for two conservative nonprofits -- Americans for Prosperity, founded by David H. and Charles Koch, and the Thomas More Society -- argued disclosure of donors' identities violates their freedom of association under the First Amendment.

The high court will decide whether to reverse a March 2019 en banc ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals siding with the state.

The cases were consolidated and will be argued together. Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra, 19-251 (S. Ct, filed Aug. 26, 2019); Thomas More Law Center v. Becerra, 19-255 (S Ct, filed Aug. 26, 2019).

The decision follows the court asking for input from President Donald Trump's administration.

Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey B. Wall argued in November the state law requiring donor disclosure was not narrowly tailored enough to pass constitutional muster.

The 9th Circuit's en banc ruling drew a dissent from several judges appointed by Republican presidents, a frequent sign the case will draw interest from the conservative Supreme Court.

9th Circuit Judge Sandra S. Ikuta, an appointee of President George W. Bush, cited a Supreme Court decision from the 1950s allowing the NAACP to keep the names of its donors private. NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson, 357 U.S. 449, 460 (1958).

"The Supreme Court has long recognized this danger and held that such compelled disclosures can violate the First Amendment right to association," Ikuta wrote.

State law requires disclosure of tax-exempt organizations' Schedule B IRS 990 forms, which include the names and addresses of anyone who donated more than $5,000 or more than 2% of the group's total contributions.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra argued the information is used to investigate possible fraud but is not made public, so the donors are not endangered.

"California's donor reporting rules simply require charities to provide the state, on a confidential basis, the same information about major donors that they already provide to the federal government," Becerra said in a statement Friday.