Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-251_p86b.pdf
Page Number: 32.0

Cite as:  594 U. S. ____ (2021) 

3 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

2018).  As a condition of membership, the attorney general
requires  charities  to  submit  a  complete  copy  of  Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990, including Schedule B, on
which 501(c)(3) organizations report the names and contri-
butions of their major donors.  See Cal. Code Regs., tit. 11, 
§301 (2021); 26 CFR §§1.6033–2(a)(2)(ii), (iii) (2020).  Cali-
fornia  regulations  expressly  require  that  Schedule  Bs  re-
main confidential, Cal. Code Regs., tit. 11, §310(b), and the 
attorney general’s office has implemented enhanced proto-
cols to ensure confidentiality.1  California relies on Sched-
ule Bs to investigate fraud and other malfeasance. 

After the attorney general’s office stepped up its efforts
to  enforce  California’s  Schedule  B  reporting  requirement,
petitioners Americans for Prosperity Foundation (Founda-
tion) and Thomas More Law Center (Law Center) sought an 
injunction against the requirement.  They alleged that the 
requirement  “unconstitutionally  burden[ed]  their  First
Amendment right to free association by deterring individu-
als from financially supporting them.”  Americans for Pros-
perity  Foundation  v.  Becerra,  903  F. 3d  1000,  1006  (CA9 
2018).  They pointed to evidence that their supporters ex-
perienced  threats,  reprisals,  and  harassment  when  their
identities and associations became publicly known in other 

—————— 

1 Schedule  Bs  are  kept  in  a  confidential  database  used  only  by  the  
Charitable Trusts Section and inaccessible to others in California’s at-
torney general’s office.  Employees who fail to safeguard confidential in-
formation are subject to discipline.  See generally Cal. Govt. Code Ann. 
§19572 (West 2009).  In light of previous security breaches disclosed in 
this  litigation,  see  ante,  at  5,  the  attorney  general’s  office  instituted  a 
series of measures to ensure that Schedule B information remains confi-
dential.  The office has adopted a system of text searching forms before 
they are uploaded onto the Internet to ensure that none contain Schedule 
B information.  The office now also runs automated scans of publicly ac-
cessible  government  databases  to  identify  and  remove  any  documents
containing Schedule B information that may be inadvertently uploaded. 
See Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra, 903 F. 3d 1000, 1018 
(CA9 2018).