On Wednesday, The Buckeye Institute submitted its response to the federal government’s appeal in the case of The Buckeye Institute v. Internal Revenue Service. This case challenges a longstanding tax law that requires nonprofit organizations to provide the names and addresses of their donors to the IRS each year.
Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, stated, “Creating convenient lists of supporters for every 501(c)(3) organization and providing those donors’ names and addresses to the IRS is fundamentally un-American. It is also unconstitutional.”
The organization’s argument references a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision from four years ago in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, where the court found that similar disclosure requirements posed “an unnecessary risk of chilling in violation of the First Amendment…” The Supreme Court has recognized that privacy rights are part of First Amendment protections, covering both free speech and anonymous association.
In earlier proceedings, the district court determined that the IRS donor disclosure rule should be reviewed under “exacting scrutiny,” which is a higher standard applied in First Amendment cases to ensure any required disclosures match the seriousness of their impact on speech and association.
The Buckeye Institute’s brief asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to uphold the district court’s ruling that exacting scrutiny applies and requests that the case be sent back to trial court for further proceedings, including discovery. This would allow The Buckeye Institute to examine the federal government’s claims more closely.
Legal representation for The Buckeye Institute in this matter includes both its internal legal team and attorneys from the Institute for Free Speech.
