Supreme Court Denies NOM's Campaign Disclosure Appeal

The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from the National Organization for Marriage, which has been trying to avoid disclosing the donors of its 2009 effort to repeal Maine's marriage equality law.

Voters repealed the law after NOM gave $1.9 million to a political action committee that opposed the law. The state mandates all groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 on election campaigning to register and disclose donors, the Associated Press reports. However, NOM argues that disclosing its donors' names and contact information would put the supporters in danger.

The list remains confidential but may be made public since the Supreme Court has decided not to hear the case, letting stand an appeals court ruling that NOM should disclose the donors. The case grew out of a 2009 complaint filed by gay activist and former Republican presidential hopeful Fred Karger.

Meanwhile, NOM is still being investigated by the Maine ethics commission on whether the organization's position is valid under the state's ballot question committee requirements.

Mainers will vote again this November on whether to establish marriage equality. According to the Morning Sentinel, 57% of Maine voters support marriage equality, 36% oppose it, and 7% say they are undecided.

"After closely following NOM in California and other states I knew that they were breaking Maine's election law," said Karger, founder of Rights Equal Rights, in a statement today. But he doesn't expect the Supreme Court ruling to be the end of his complaints against NOM.

"Now NOM is at it again in four states including Maine that will be voting on the freedom to marry November 6," he said. "NOM's political operative Frank Schubert is again running all the campaigns and NOM is funding them. The voters in Washington, Minnesota, Maryland, and Maine should be aware of NOM's lies and should reject Schubert's continued campaigns of deceit during the next five weeks."