NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE et al. v. COMMISSION ON GOVERNMENTAL ETHICS AND ELECTION PRACTICES

Case #: 1:2009cv00538
Date Filed: 1 October 2009
Ruling Date: 28 May 2014

Description:

• The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices found that the National Organization for Marriage violated campaign finance laws by failing to properly register as a ballot question committee and file financial reports in the 2009 referendum that struck down gay marriage. Same-sex unions were legalized by voters in 2012.
• The commission also ruled that the organization must file a campaign finance report, which would force it to disclose the names of its donors.
• Maine's ethics panel fined NOM more than $50,000 and ordered it to reveal the donors who backed its efforts to repeal the state's marriage equality law.