Tony Infanti of Feminist Law Professors (now with a new URL, ) says
In a blow to hypocrisy, a federal judge has rejected the attempt by Prop. 8 supporters to shield the names of those who donated in support of the measure from release to the public. I refer to this as a hypocritical position on the part of the Prop. 8 supporters because the law that makes the identities of those who contribute $100 or more to initiative campaigns a matter of public record was itself enacted through the initiative process by California voters in 1974. In defending Prop. 8 after its passage, supporters of the measure have argued that the courts should defer to the will of the people; however, it seems that the will of the people means little to them–and, in their view, should mean little to the courts–when the will of the people affects Prop. 8 supporters (rather than the LGBT community) adversely.
To be honest I am a little creeped out not by reporting requirements but by how close to invasion of privacy it gets. But it’s a compromise I’m willing to swallow in a political landscape so easily overrun by Astroturf.
Still, any lawyer compassless enough to make that specific argument — that initiative-passed law should be disregarded for the benefit of proponents of initiative-passed laws — probably ought to be disbarred.
Furthermore it’s hard to sympathize about the privacy rights of those who’s initiative was exclusively about interfering with other people’s to make private decisions.
