The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down a request from a conservative organization to halt a lower court ruling that requires the group to disclose the names of its donors.
In an order Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected the request from Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, a nonprofit tied to Karl Rove. There were no noted dissents.
Chief Justice John Roberts had issued a stay of the ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Saturday. But after the full court considered the request from Crossroads GPS, Roberts’ temporary stay was vacated and the group’s application denied.
As a result of the Supreme Court’s order, Crossroads GPS and other groups that spend more than $250 on independent expenditures may now have to disclose the identifies of donors contributing more than $200 in the past year.
The case involves a 38-year-old regulation from the Federal Election Commission governing the disclosure of donors to so-called “dark money” groups.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington challenged the regulation after Crossroads GPS failed to disclose donors who contributed to its efforts to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, in 2012.
In a ruling from the lower court in August, U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell invalidated the FEC’s regulation by saying it “blatantly undercuts the congressional goal of fully disclosing the sources of money flowing into federal political campaigns.”
CREW praised the Supreme Court’s decision to deny the request for a stay, calling it a “great day for transparency and democracy.”
“Three courts, including the Supreme Court, have now rejected Crossroads’ arguments for a stay, meaning we’re about to know a lot more about who is funding out elections,” Noah Bookbinder, CREW’s executive director, said in a statement.
