Alexandria, VA – The Center for Competitive Politics (CCP), America’s largest nonprofit working to promote and defend First Amendment rights to free political speech, assembly, and petition, released the following statement concerning the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to review the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Center for Competitive Politics v. Harris:
“We are very disappointed that the Supreme Court decided not to review the 9th Circuit’s decision. The case is not over and we will study our legal options before making our next move,” said CCP President David Keating. “It is possible, for example, that the Court did not want to review the denial of a preliminary injunction and will decide to hear the case after the lower courts have ruled on the merits of the case.”
“We call on Attorney General Kamala Harris to end this failed policy. Last week, it was revealed that over 1,400 supposedly confidential forms listing donors appeared on the state’s website.”
“When the Attorney General’s head auditor was asked under oath how many times in the last 10 years the confidential information sought was ‘the reason [you] kicked off [an] investigation’ of a charity, he said ‘I don’t believe any of them.’ The office doesn’t need this information and has demonstrated its inability to keep these forms confidential. It’s time to end this anti-association policy permanently.”
At the heart of the case is the question of whether California’s Attorney General, Kamala Harris, has the power to ban a nonprofit organization from asking for donations unless it hands over a list of its past supporters for inspection, even if the group has no involvement in elections. During the litigation, the attorney general failed to provide any reason for collecting this information other than a claim that at some point in the future it might be valuable for “law enforcement.”
