Amicus Brief: Alaska Policy Forum v. Alaska Public Offices Commission

Alaska Policy Forum is a 501(c)(3) that publicly discusses political issues, including election funding, universal mail-in elections, the electoral college system, and election integrity. In January 2020, APF joined Protect My Ballot (PMB), a national coalition organized by the Employment Policies Institute Foundation, which educates the public about problems with ranked choice voting. APF joined PMB only after confirming that PMB would not engage in election advocacy.

Due to APF partnering in an educational initiative that later became a state ballot issue, a complaint was filed with the Alaska campaign finance department. The state found that the organization spent $643.20 in staff time on the effort, and on that basis held that it was required to register as a political speaker, file expenditure reports, and stamp its publications with the names of its three largest contributors. APF raised many First Amendment challenges to this, including a challenge to the mandatory donor disclosure. The Supreme Court of Alaska nevertheless upheld the ruling.

Now on petition for Supreme Court review, the Manhattan Institute has joined the People United for Privacy Foundation, Philanthropy Roundtable, and the State Policy Network on a brief in support. For too long, donor disclosure requirements have been rubber stamped by lower courts and the Supreme Court. We argue that it is time the Court to apply meaningful scrutiny to small disclosure requirements—such as disclosure on $643.20 (and actually Alaska would require disclosure on $1)—that serve no public interest and only chill donor involvement. The Supreme Court has repeatedly said that the right to donor privacy is a significant First Amendment concern, and it is time to give that right some teeth.

Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of Constitutional Studies at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.

Trevor Burrus is a legal policy fellow at the Manhattan Institute.