By Jim Small | AZ Mirror
The Arizona Supreme Court will decide whether a measure that voters overwhelmingly approved to require disclosure of most anonymous campaign spending is constitutional — and, in the process, it could potentially reshape free speech jurisprudence in the Grand Canyon State.
The case centers on the Voters Right to Know Act, which won 70% of the vote in 2022. It requires any person or organization making campaign media expenditures of more than $50,000 on a statewide election or $25,000 on local elections to disclose the original source of any contributions totaling more than $5,000.
It was challenged by the anti-abortion advocacy group Center for Arizona Policy and the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, a dark money nonprofit. The political groups argued that mandating disclosure of the source of political spending violates the Arizona Constitution’s protections of free speech, association, privacy and separation of powers.
Those arguments were rejected by a trial court and the Arizona Court of Appeals, which unanimously ruled in late 2024 that free speech and privacy claims were outweighed by the Arizona Constitution’s intent to compel financial disclosure of groups that seek to influence the results of an election.
