US Supreme Court rejects challenge to Alaska campaign disclosure rules approved by voters in 2020

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place campaign disclosure requirements that Alaska voters approved through a 2020 ballot measure.

The justices rejected without explanation an appeal filed by several Alaska voters and groups. The Alaska plaintiffs were represented by the Liberty Justice Center — a conservative legal group.

The 2020 ballot measure requires anyone who contributes $2,000 to a SuperPAC — or an independent expenditure group as they are known in Alaska — to report that donation within 24 hours or face a penalty of up to $1,000 a day.

Separate provisions in the 2020 measure implemented ranked choice voting and open primaries in Alaska. Those provisions could be repealed by another ballot initiative at this year’s election, but the stricter campaign disclosure requirements will not be impacted.

In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the landmark Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations, third-party groups and unions to make unlimited donations to independent expenditure groups. Those groups can boost a candidate, but they are prohibited by federal law from coordinating with them.

Alaska’s 2020 ballot measure imposed stricter disclosure rules for independent expenditure groups, requiring them to report the “true source” of their funding. The new rules were intended to curtail so-called “dark money.”

Alaska independent expenditure groups are themselves often funded by other advocacy groups. The new true source requirements mean those advocacy groups effectively needed to disclose their donors.

Additionally, the 2020 measure required that if a group received a majority of their funding from outside of Alaska, they would need to state that fact in capital letters throughout the entirety of television ads.

Scott Kendall, an Anchorage attorney who authored the 2020 ballot measure, wrote a brief in support of keeping the new disclosure requirements. He said the Citizens United decision may have struck down contribution limits, but the U.S. Supreme Court had shown Alaska’s disclosure rules were acceptable.

”Disclosure is the disinfectant that will cleanse any possible corruption,” he said.

The plaintiffs in the case — several Alaska voters and conservative advocacy groups Families of the Last Frontier and the Alaska Free Market Coalition — sued over the new disclosure requirements in 2022. They argued those new rules violated the First Amendment by curbing donors’ political speech, and by compelling “government-mandated messages” in television ads.

Reilly Stephens, an attorney for the Liberty Justice Center which challenged the rules, said the “pretty extensive” disclaimers meant the government was monopolizing time in political ads. He said the plaintiffs also opposed listing that a campaign was majority-funded by Outside donors.

”You have to put a big scarlet letter saying, ‘We are funded by people outside the state,’ which we also think is a discriminatory sort of thing,” he said.

Stephens said the U.S. Supreme Court had listed and relisted the case several times, which suggested the justices were seriously considering hearing it.

“They were obviously paying attention to it, but we didn’t make the cut,” he said.

In March, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the stricter disclosure requirements approved by Alaska voters. In a split decision, the appeals court judges said the new rules were “narrowly tailored to the government’s asserted interest in providing the electorate with accurate, real-time information.”

Jacob Huebert, president of the Liberty Justice Center, said the plaintiffs can now return to the U.S. District Court of Alaska to again challenge some of the state’s disclosure requirements. The Supreme Court could then have another opportunity to consider the case, he said.

“This law serves to discourage political participation and forces people who do speak out on politics to speak the government’s message instead of their own,” he said through a prepared statement. “It violates the First Amendment and should ultimately be struck down.”

Meanwhile, the state’s campaign finance regulator — the Alaska Public Offices Commission — ordered an investigation last month into Families of the Last Frontier and how it was reporting its major donors.

The group raised over $370,000 this year to boost conservative candidates in key legislative races. APOC will study whether the group violated Alaska’s true source disclosure rules.

Kendall said Alaska voters have consistently supported stricter and more transparent campaign disclosure requirements.

In 2021, a federal appeals court struck down Alaska’s main campaign contribution limits, which effectively allowed unlimited cash donations to candidates in legislative races. Alaska voters are set to decide at the 2026 election whether to establish new contribution caps through another ballot measure.