Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta

Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, decided July 1, 2021, by the U.S. Supreme Court, challenged California's requirement that charities disclose major donor information to the Attorney General. The plaintiffs, Americans for Prosperity Foundation and Thomas More Law Center, argued this compelled disclosure violated the First Amendment rights to free association and speech. The Court held the disclosure requirement unconstitutional, finding it was not narrowly tailored to the state's interest in preventing charitable fraud. Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, which emphasized that compelled disclosure of donor identities imposes a significant burden on associational rights and that less restrictive alternatives existed. The decision overturned the Ninth Circuit and strengthened donor privacy protections for nonprofit organizations nationwide.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the plaintiffs, holding that California's donor disclosure requirement is facially unconstitutional because it burdens First Amendment associational rights and is not narrowly tailored to the state's interest in preventing fraud. The Ninth Circuit's decision was reversed and the case remanded.

Whether California's requirement that nonprofit organizations disclose their major donors to the state Attorney General violates the First Amendment's protection of freedom of association, and what level of judicial scrutiny applies to such compelled disclosure requirements.

The ruling significantly strengthened donor privacy for nonprofit organizations, limiting government power to compel disclosure of supporter identities. It set a higher bar for state regulatory schemes affecting First Amendment associational freedoms, with implications for campaign finance disclosure laws and charitable regulation across the United States.