A federal judge has ruled that Maine's campaign finance disclosure law is constitutional, rejecting a challenge from a national group that actively opposes same sex marriage laws around the country.

The ruling, handed down late today, is being praised by supporters of Maine's campaign spending disclosure laws.
"This is an important decision for Maine voters, because they need to know who is influencing them on ballot questions," says Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election practices.

"Voters sometimes receive a lot of communications and it's not always clear to them who is funding them and what their positions are and what they're all about, and this maintains disclosure in Maine and it's a good decision," Wayne says.

The challenge was brought by the National Organization for Marriage, which spent $1.9 million dollars in a successful campaign to overturn Maine's same-sex marriage law in 2009. The Ethics Commission had determined that NOM was required to disclose the identities of its donors, but the group refused, and filed suit on grounds that Maine's requirements were unconstitutional on a number of fronts.

NOM argued, for example, that Maine's law was vague, that it wrongly treats ballot question committees the same as political action committees, and that its requirement for such entities to disclose all contibutors giving over $100 dollars is overly burdensome.

The 22-page decision from U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby, rejects all of these arguments, and simply concludes that Maine's dicslosure law is constitutional. Attorneys for the National Orgnization for Marriage could not be reached for comment by airtime.