NAM Will Appeal Court Ruling on Lobbying Law

14 Apr 2008 // The National Association of Manufacturers plans to appeal a federal court decision upholding a new lobbying law that will force the business group to disclose its members.

The trade association also will seek an emergency stay of the April 11 decision.

NAM sued Feb. 6 in an attempt to maintain the confidentiality of its 11,000 member companies, arguing that the law was unconstitutionally vague.

But U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, in a 57-page ruling, said the law was “narrowly tailored to serve compelling government interests and is neither vague on its face nor as applied to the NAM.”

Quentin Riegel, the group’s vice president for litigation, said Monday that NAM would ask U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly “in the next day or so” for an emergency stay of the decision. The case is urgent because the law requires NAM to name its members in quarterly reports due April 21.

If the judge denies the request for a stay, both that action and the group’s full challenge would move to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Without a stay, even an expedited appeal could take six months for a decision.

The judge applied the toughest standard in reviewing the law’s constitutionality, called “strict scrutiny.” While NAM disagreed with her conclusions, watchdog groups that supported the law praised the decision.

“It’s the highest threshold to look at a piece of legislation to see if it will survive,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government, which filed a brief in the case.

Riegel said NAM has not yet decided what it will do if the stay is denied.

The lobbying law requires the manufacturers association, which fields about 35 lobbyists, and other umbrella groups to disclose every member that contributes at least $5,000 to lobbying efforts during a quarter and “actively participates in the planning, supervision or control of such lobbying activities.”