Email from The Institute for Free Speech Alaska ordered a nonprofit to register and disclose its donors over speech that never mentioned the ballot measure it was accused of opposing For Immediate Release: July 13, 2026   Media Contact: Name: Tom Garrett Phone: 202-301-9200 Email: [email protected] Institute for Free Speech Urges Supreme Court to Protect Public Policy Discussion from Campaign Finance Overreach Alaska ordered a nonprofit to register and disclose its donors over speech that never mentioned the ballot measure it was accused of opposing Washington, DC — In Alaska, a nonprofit can be forced to register as a campaign committee and disclose its donors simply for discussing a policy issue that happens to appear on the ballot. That’s the position the Institute for Free Speech is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reject. The Institute filed a petition today asking the Court to review Alaska Policy Forum v. Alaska Public Offices Commission, a case in which the Alaska Supreme Court upheld the state’s use of its campaign finance law to punish core educational speech. The speech at issue was research and commentary about ranked-choice voting. The case began in 2020, when Alaska Policy Forum (APF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was invited to join a national coalition to educate the public about ranked-choice voting. APF shared a coalition press release, embedded a coalition video on its website, and published its own article, white paper, and press release about the white paper. None of APF’s communications mentioned Measure 2, the ballot initiative that proposed adopting ranked-choice voting in Alaska. The Alaska Public Offices Commission nonetheless concluded that APF’s communications amounted to advocacy against Measure 2, triggering registration, reporting, and on-communication donor disclosure requirements. Incredibly, the commission cleared the national coalition of any wrongdoing for producing some of the sanctioned communications, yet penalized APF merely for repeating it. The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed, relying on a decades-old Ninth Circuit test that asks courts to guess at a speaker’s intent and how an audience might react to a communication, rather than the objective test articulated by Chief Justice Roberts’ controlling opinion in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life—a test specifically designed to protect issue speech. The Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling also allows the state to demand donor disclosure, regardless of how small the contribution or whether the donor gave to support the speech at issue. The petition argues that disclosure of such small, non-earmarked donations tells voters nothing of value and cannot survive First Amendment scrutiny. “Alaska’s rule means that any nonprofit that speaks about a policy issue risks being forced to register as a campaign committee and expose its donors, just because the issue happens to land on a ballot,” said Institute for Free Speech Senior Attorney Owen Yeates. “That result punishes the exact kind of educational political speech that lies at the heart of the First Amendment’s protections.” The petition asks the Court to clarify that lower courts must apply an objective test to distinguish issue speech from advocacy, that donor disclosure requirements must be tied to meaningful contributions actually earmarked for the regulated speech, and that compelled speech like demanding donor information must survive strict scrutiny, especially when the government can publish the information itself. To read the Institute for Free Speech’s cert petition in Alaska Policy Forum v. Alaska Public Offices Commission, click here. To read more about the case and access all filings, please see our case page here. About the Institute for Free Speech  The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the political speech rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment. Visit us at www.ifs.org Follow the Institute for Free Speech: The Institute for Free Speech | 1150 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 801 | Washington, DC 20036 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice