Brody's Scribbles... Predictable- NOM Defies Judge And Appeals Disclosure Ruling

Anita Bryant, Maggie Gallagher

John Briggs, Brian Brown

By Eric Ethington (Salt Lake City, Utah) MAR 2 | Utterly predictable. Rather than comply with the latest in a long string of rulings against them, the National Organization For Marriage (NOM) is appealing this last ruling requiring them to disclose to voters who is funding their ads and campaigns. Shhh… don’t tell them we already know.

NOM’s Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown, our generation’s Anita Bryant and John Briggs, REALLY don’t want anyone to know who is paying the millions of dollars every year to fund their campaign of hate across the country. But they continue to run afoul of those pesky little laws in states like Maine which require any group which puts more than $5000 into a political campaign to disclose who is behind the scenes paying the bills.

These laws have been long upheld as ethical and constitutional, as they allow voters to find out who is trying to influence their opinion. But despite having spent $1,900,000 (just a wee bit over the $5,000 limit) in Maine, NOM has refused to comply with several rulings against them.

This latest appeal goes to the First Circuit Court. When they (undoubtably) fail there, the only step left for them would be to appeal to the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately for Gallagher and Brown, SCOTUS just finished ruling in an identical case brought by another group from Washington State, meaning that the highest court may not even agree to hear NOM’s case.

Hear that sound? Those are nails in two super-sized coffins.

Portland Press Herald:

Lawyers for the National Organization for Marriage filed their notice of appeal with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, which already is considering another constitutional challenge of Maine’s campaign finance law by the Virginia-based organization.