Frequently Searched

Goldwater Defends Donor Privacy in Arizona Appellate Court

October 31, 2024

Everyone has the right to support the causes they believe in without fear of harassment or retaliation. That right is now under assault in Arizona under an unconstitutional law called Proposition 211—but the Goldwater Institute is fighting back, continuing our legacy of spearheading the nationwide fight to protect donor privacy.

On Tuesday at 9:30 am, the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division 1 will hear Goldwater’s lawsuit challenging Prop 211’s unconstitutional requirements. Former Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould will argue the case for the Goldwater Institute.

Deceptively named the “Voters’ Right to Know Act,” Prop 211 requires nonprofit organizations to turn over their donors’ names, addresses, employers, and contribution amounts to the government if those groups engage in speech on matters of public concern. Specifically, it overrides decades-old protections for donor privacy under federal law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent by requiring nonprofits that spend more than $50,000 over a two-year period speaking about policy issues prior to an election to publicly disclose any donor who gave more than $5,000 over the same two years.

Prop 211 tramples on basic free speech protections by allowing the government to intrude into an individual’s private affairs. It forces donors to choose between supporting causes and organizations they believe in, or having their donations and private information publicized on a government list. The result is less free speech, more harassment, and an uglier political discourse.

That’s why the Goldwater Institute is representing the Center for Arizona Policy, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, and individual nonprofit donors in a lawsuit against the Arizona Secretary of State and the Arizona Clean Elections Commission.

The lawsuit asserts that Prop 211 violates the free speech protections of the Arizona Constitution, which provides even greater protection for free speech than the First Amendment. Prop 211 also violates the Arizona Constitution’s explicit guarantee that an individual’s “private affairs” will not be disturbed by requiring the disclosure of confidential monetary donations to nonprofits that engage in “campaign media spending.” Moreover, Prop 211 violates the Arizona Constitution’s separation of powers principle, which mandates that none of the state’s three branches of government exercise the powers belonging to another. Yet Prop 211 grants executive, legislative, and quasi-judicial power to the Arizona Clean Elections Commission—an unelected and unaccountable body—and then exempts the commission from any oversight from the executive or legislative branches.

As the Goldwater Institute explained in a 2015 policy report, the entire point of issue advocacy and social welfare organizations is to advance matters of public concern through public dialogue. But former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has even stated that this proposition was aimed at stifling certain types of speech that he apparently finds disagreeable. So it should come as no surprise that unions were specifically exempted from the disclosure requirements with which nonprofits like the National Rifle Association, the Sierra Club, and Planned Parenthood must comply.

The measure has other legal defects as well:

  • Prop 211 defines “campaign media spending,” which triggers disclosure requirements, so broadly that it includes any public communication that refers to a political candidate prior to an election, even if that candidate is also an incumbent officeholder. This means that Prop 211’s disclosure requirements could apply to a wide range of a nonprofit’s educational and civic activities, including posting a blog, publishing a study, or hosting an event, among others.
  • Prop 211 requires the outing of the original source of donated money. In other words, if a nonprofit gives money to another nonprofit and that nonprofit meets the disclosure requirements, the original nonprofit still must disclose their donors.
  • Prop 211 requires a nonprofit to list its top three donors on any public communication that meets the “campaign media spending” requirements even if the top donors have specifically opted out of having their donation used for “campaign media spending.”

Prop 211 is just the latest in a long series of attacks in recent years on donor privacy. But the Goldwater Institute is leading the nation in fighting back. In 2018, Goldwater helped pass a law in Arizona that prevented cities from requiring nonprofits to hand over their donor lists as a condition of speaking on issues of public importance. Goldwater has also sued governments in Rio Grande, New Mexico, and Denver, Colorado, over city ordinances that mandated similar disclosure requirements. And Goldwater filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of nonprofits’ successful challenge of California’s attempt to force nonprofit  groups to turn over their confidential donor lists.

In Arizona and around the country, Goldwater will never stop fighting to protect all Americans’ right to free speech.

You can read more about this case here.

 

 

More on this issue

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!