MAINE: Federal Judge Rejects NOM's Attempt To Hide Names Of Donors

A federal judge ruled yesterday that Maine's campaign finance disclosure law is constitutional, rejecting NOM's long-running battle to hide the names of its donors.

The challenge was brought by the National Organization for Marriage, which spent $1.9 million dollars in a successful campaign to overturn Maine's same-sex marriage law in 2009. The Ethics Commission had determined that NOM was required to disclose the identities of its donors, but the group refused, and filed suit on grounds that Maine's requirements were unconstitutional on a number of fronts. NOM argued, for example, that Maine's law was vague, that it wrongly treats ballot question committees the same as political action committees, and that its requirement for such entities to disclose all contibutors giving over $100 dollars is overly burdensome. The 22-page decision from U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby, rejects all of these arguments, and simply concludes that Maine's dicslosure law is constitutional. Attorneys for the National Orgnization for Marriage could not be reached for comment by airtime.

NOM has repeatedly lost this fight and just goes on to appeal to the next higher court. Will they ignore this ruling too and try to push this to SCOTUS? Not a word about yesterday's loss on their blog.