Supreme Court rejects anti same-sex marriage group's appeal
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from a national anti-gay marriage group that tried to thwart Maine's campaign disclosure law requiring it to release its donor list.
The high court turned aside an appeal from the National Organization for Marriage, which donated $1.9 million to a political action committee that helped repeal Maine's same-sex marriage law.
Maine's campaign disclosure law requires groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 to influence elections to register and disclose donors. NOM contends that releasing the donor list would stymie free speech and subject donors to harassment, but the lower court refused to throw out the law.
Voters repealed Maine's gay marriage law in 2009, but it's on the ballot again this November.
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For now, the 2009 donor list remains under wraps.
The state ethics commission is still investigating whether NOM falls under the state's ballot question committee requirements, said its executive director, Jonathan Wayne.
"Today's decision by the Supreme Court is an important development, but no decision has been reached by the commission regarding the National Organization for Marriage's 2009 activities," he said.
Matt McTighe, campaign manager for Mainers United for Marriage, which supports the gay marriage proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot, said gay marriage supporters don't care so much about who's on NOM's list of donors but rather want the organization to play by the same rules as everybody else.
"It's not like we're dying to get those names. There's nothing about the list itself that's important," he said. "We just think they should play by the same rules as everyone else and disclose where their money comes from. If they're going to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaign like they did in 2009, the people of Maine should know where that money's coming from."
NOM, which didn't immediately return calls seeking comment from The Associated Press, is involved again in the gay marriage proposal this year. The organization already has transferred $250,000 to the Protect Marriage Maine political action committee, which opposes gay marriage.
TSA SCANNERS
The Supreme Court won't hear a Michigan man's attempt to challenge the use of full body scanners at airports.
It refused to hear an appeal by Jonathan Corbett, who wanted to challenge the Transportation Security Administration's use of full body scanners and/or enhanced pat downs at airport security lines. Federal courts in Florida refused to hear his lawsuit, saying it could only be filed with the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal, and the Supreme Court refused to reopen the case.
MURDERED COLLEGE GIRL
The Supreme Court won't let the family of a raped and murdered college girl sue the employer of her killers for her 1979 death.
It refused to let the parents of Janet Chandler sue Wackenhut Corp., which in 1979 was hired to send security guards to Holland, Mich., to provide security during a strike.
Chandler, who was a 23-year-old college student working at a hotel, was kidnaped, raped and killed by Wackenhut guards, who then covered up her death. Six people were convicted of first or second degree murder, five of whom worked for Wackenhut. But the federal courts have said Chandler's family cannot sue Wackenhut for her long-ago death.
The high court refused to reconsider that ruling.
STUN GUNS
The Supreme Court won't allow a lawsuit against two law enforcement officers who used stun guns against a Georgia man who later died.
It refused to hear an appeal from the parents of James Christopher Allen, who died after a Bacon County deputy and an Alma police officer stunned him multiple times.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had agreed with a lower court judge who refused to let Allen's parents sue the officers for his death. The man's parents said officers knew that Allen had mental issues and substance abuse problems, and that he was compliant and nonthreatening before he was stunned.
The officers said Allen attacked one of them, saying he was a demon.
