Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 643.0

482  CITIZENS  UNITED  v.  FEDERAL  ELECTION  COMM’N 

Opinion of Thomas, J. 

Those accounts are consistent with media reports describ­
ing  Proposition  8-related  retaliation.  The  director  of  the 
nonproﬁt  California  Musical  Theater  gave  $1,000  to  support 
the  initiative;  he  was  forced  to  resign  after  artists  com­
plained  to  his  employer.  Lott  &  Smith,  Donor  Disclosure 
Has Its Downsides, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 26, 2008, 
p. A13.  The  director of the  Los Angeles Film  Festival was 
forced  to  resign  after  giving  $1,500  because  opponents 
threatened  to  boycott  and  picket  the  next  festival.  Ibid. 
And  a  woman  who  had  managed  her  popular,  family-owned 
restaurant  for  26  years  was  forced  to  resign  after  she  gave 
$100,  because  “throngs  of  [angry]  protesters”  repeatedly 
arrived  at  the  restaurant  and  “shout[ed]  ‘shame  on  you’  at 
customers.”  Lopez,  Prop.  8  Stance  Upends  Her  Life, 
Los  Angeles  Times,  Dec.  14,  2008,  p.  B1.  The  police  even 
had to “arriv[e] in riot gear one night to quell the angry mob” 
at the restaurant.  Ibid.  Some supporters of Proposition 8 
engaged  in  similar  tactics;  one  real  estate  businessman  in 
San Diego who had donated to a group opposing Proposition 
8  “received  a  letter  from  the  Prop.  8  Executive  Committee 
threatening  to  publish  his  company’s  name  if  he  didn’t  also 
donate to the ‘Yes on 8’ campaign.”  Donor Disclosure, 
supra, at A13. 

The  success  of  such  intimidation  tactics  has  apparently 
spawned a cottage industry that uses forcibly disclosed donor 
information  to  pre-empt  citizens’  exercise  of  their  First 
Amendment rights.  Before the 2008 Presidential election, a 
“newly formed nonproﬁt group . . . plann[ed] to confront do­
nors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect 
that  will  dry  up  contributions.”  Luo,  Group  Plans  Cam­
paign  Against  G.O.P.  Donors,  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  8,  2008, 
p.  A15.  Its  leader,  “who  described  his  effort  as  ‘going  for 
the  jugular,’ ”  detailed  the  group’s  plan  to  send  a  “warning 
letter . . . alerting donors who might be considering giving to 
right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including