Free To Be Different

For John, BLUF:  The Supreme Court is considering if State Government my demand the donor list of a private advocacy group.  Secret Answer—Should not be allowed.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Supreme Court Seems Primed to Reverse Kamala Harris's Attack on Free Speech

Frim Pajama Media, by Reporter Tyler O'Neil, 26 April 2021, 1:30 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus three:

On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the key First Amendment case Americans for Prosperity v. Rodriguez, which centers on the State of California’s requirement that nonprofit organizations disclose their donor information to the state.  Back in 2015, then-Attorney General Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) demanded that two conservative nonprofits, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), hand over their donor lists.  This demand threatened to reveal the identities of donors, potentially subjecting them to threats and harassment.

Legal representatives for AFP and TMLC said the Supreme Court justices’ questions and remarks suggested they are likely to strike down California’s requirement as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment.

“The justices appreciated very well that membership and donations to an organization are protected by a right to privacy in association, not just a right to associate,” Kathleen Sullivan, legal counsel for Americans for Prosperity Foundation, said on a press call after the oral arguments on Monday.

She noted that the justices cited many friend-of-the-court briefs written by ideological opponents of AFP and TMLC that nonetheless support these conservative organizations’ rights to donor anonymity.  The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) proved particularly noteworthy in this regard.

A longish article, but it is an important Free Speech issue.  Remember, Free Speech, once lost, is hard to get back, and may lead to the loss of more Free Speech tights.

Free Speech, important for floating new ideas, means society being willing to tolerate speech that is distasteful.  If the speech is accepted by society as a whole, then there is no Free Speech issue.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff