The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Rodriquez , as well as a related case brought by the Thomas More Law Center, which challenge a California policy requiring nonprofits to disclose the names of their anonymous donors. The policy was initially created by then-state Attorney General Kamala Harris. The petitioners sued California on the ground that the policy violated their members’ freedom of association. They argue that the freedom of association protects Americans’ right to associate anonymously, and they fear that if they are forced to disclose their members’ names, partisan government employees or hackers may leak them to the press and subject them to harassment. These are real concerns in a time where people with “problematic” views can be fired , ostracized , and harassed if those views are made public. The case has attracted one of the broadest left-right coalitions in recent Supreme Court history. Organizations as diverse as the Cato Institute, the ACLU, the Pacific Legal Foundation, PETA, Concerned Women for America, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Wisconsin Right to Life, and many more have joined forces to argue that the freedom of association protects the right of people to anonymously […]
