Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Voters' Right to Know Act

Overview

• The Arizona Supreme Court issued a 4-3 ruling on Monday, June 29, largely finding the voter-approved disclosure law constitutional while narrowing the scope of challengers' claims.
• Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer's majority opinion relied on Arizona's long history of disclosure and rejected broad facial free-speech and privacy challenges to the law.
• The court kept the statute in effect for upcoming elections but sent plaintiffs' specific claims that disclosure would chill speech by exposing donors to threats or harassment back to Maricopa County Superior Court for trial.
• The Voters' Right to Know Act, approved by roughly 72% of voters in 2022, requires groups that spend at least $50,000 in statewide races to disclose donors who gave $5,000 or more and uses a $25,000 threshold for other contests.
• A separate federal challenge by Americans for Prosperity is pending at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the state decision — anchored by citations to early Arizona laws including a 1917 ban on anonymous donations — could shape how disclosure rules are applied and litigated elsewhere.