Center for Competitive Politics president David Keating released the following statement on the 9th Circuit ruling in CCP v. Harris:
We are disappointed by the Ninth Circuit’s decision. We think the decision is wrong and threatens First Amendment speech rights.
The ruling asks us to make an impossible choice: either retroactively disclose donors to the Attorney General or cease asking Californians to support our work to defend free speech.
We intend to seek review of this opinion. Ultimately, the Supreme Court may need to reaffirm its longstanding view that people can join groups without reporting their activity to the government, especially for educational purposes, unless the state can provide a specific and powerful reason for insisting otherwise. It gave no such reason in its briefs.
We are confident that when the litigation is complete the privacy of our donors will be protected and we can continue to speak to Californians about why they should support our work.
