Forbes: Thomas More Law Center Victory Over California AG – Big Win For Free Speech Or Dark Money?
By Peter J. Reilly
The Thomas More Law Center is very concerned about donor confidentiality and is quite pleased about its recent win in the Ninth Circuit where it was opposing the California Attorney General. The argument was over whether TMLC should be required to provide the AG with the Schedule B of IRS Form 990 that discloses information about donors who have given $5,000 or more in a year…
TMLC had a victory, but hardly a sweeping one. They won’t have to turn their Schedule B over to the California AG, but almost every other charity that wants to raise money in California still does. Stephen Yosifon of Perlman+Perlman noted in the EO Tax Journal…
“For every other organization registering in California, Schedule B must still be submitted, as determined in Center for Competitive Politics v. Harris, 784 F.3d 1307 (9th Cir. 2015), cert denied.”…
In order to get this exemption, TMLC had to make a strong showing that their donors might be subject to harassment. They managed that…
“It also satisfies the requirement of Center for Competitive Politics that an organization show “a reasonable probability” that the disclosure of TMLC’s donors would subject them to threats or harassment.”
