Disclosure: A Threat to Associational Privacy

January 1, 2018  •  By IFS staff  •    •  

Disclosure, in the campaign finance context, refers to laws and regulations requiring candidates and political groups to report information about their activities to the government, which then makes that information available publicly. The required information varies greatly, depending on the affected organization and the local, state, or federal government mandating the disclosure. Disclosure rules fall into two broad categories: disclosure…

Fact Check: Business Interests Did Not Spend $3.5 Billion on Political Contributions in 2022

February 28, 2023   •  By Alec Greven   •  , ,

In January 2023, OpenSecrets, an organization dedicated to tracking money in politics, published the startling claim that in the 2022 election cycle “business interests” ...

Why disclosing ‘dark money’ donations actually hurts your freedom of speech

January 24, 2023   •  By Alec Greven   •  , , ,

Proposition 211 harms your right to join others to form groups to press for government reform. With the law’s forced disclosure of names and addresses, fewer ...

The Buckeye Institute v. Internal Revenue Service

December 5, 2022   •  By Scott Blackburn   •  , ,

The Buckeye Institute filed a lawsuit challenging a decades-old tax law that forces the IRS to demand that nonprofit charities hand over the private ...

New York’s complex laws restrict speech and advocacy

November 9, 2022   •  By Tiffany Donnelly   •  , , , ,

A new report says New York restricts more speech about government than any other state in the nation. The Institute for Free Speech, a ...

Washington state wages an unconstitutional war on political free speech

November 9, 2022   •  By Eric Wang   •  , ,

Washington’s prosecution of Meta and the resulting judgment is a miscarriage of justice. The unreasonable fine is the largest by far ever imposed for a campaign ...

The DISCLOSE Act Would Harm Democracy

October 3, 2022   •  By Alec Greven   •  , ,

Once again congressional Democratic leaders tried, and failed, to pass the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that would publicly expose the names and addresses of ...

Free Speech Index

The Institute for Free Speech is pleased to present the Free Speech Index: Grading the 50 States on the Freedom To Speak About Government. ...

The Mirage of Corruption: An Analysis of the Supreme Court’s “Appearance of Corruption” Standard

August 8, 2022   •  By Alec Greven   •  , , ,

The Supreme Court’s landmark Buckley v. Valeo decision laid the foundation for modern campaign finance law in the United States. The decision rests on ...

Testimony of David Keating Before the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee on the DISCLOSE Act

July 19, 2022   •  By David Keating   •  ,

PDF of testimony available here Introduction Chairwoman Klobuchar, Ranking Member Blunt, and members of the Committee: On behalf of the Institute for Free Speech,[1] ...

California Gunowner Data Leak Makes the Case (Again) for Donor Privacy

July 7, 2022   •  By Tiffany Donnelly   •  , , , ,

In Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the district court made factual findings that leaks were commonplace and the State’s security protocols for maintaining the confidentiality ...

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