{"id":166903,"date":"2016-07-07T09:10:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T15:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=166903"},"modified":"2016-07-07T09:10:51","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T15:10:51","slug":"judge-likens-koch-brothers-plight-that-of-civil-rights-workers-in-the-1950s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/07\/judge-likens-koch-brothers-plight-that-of-civil-rights-workers-in-the-1950s\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge likens Koch brothers\u2019 plight that of civil rights workers in the 1950s"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch have in common with civil rights pioneers of the 1950s? More than you might think, according to a recent ruling <\/a>by a federal judge.<\/p>\n

\"Money\"<\/a>

Pictures of Money \/ Creative Commons<\/p>

But the court decision has been more than a little controversial; comparing the travails of billionaires to the violent threats endured by civil rights workers in the 1950s is more than a stretch, say some of those familiar with the case \u2014 it\u2019s offensive. (photo cc info<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

Each has faced threats and harassment from those who disagree with their views, and each is entitled to privacy when it comes to disclosing certain kinds of information to the government. So said U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real in an April 21 ruling, citing constitutional grounds.<\/p>\n

But the court decision has been more than a little controversial; comparing the travails of billionaires to the violent threats endured by civil rights workers in the 1950s is more than a stretch, say some of those familiar with the case \u2014 it\u2019s offensive.<\/p>\n

The argument is far from academic. Indeed, the case in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California represents just the latest front in an ongoing legal and public relations battle being waged by a wide range of mostly conservative groups attempting to keep donors to political nonprofits \u2014 including \u201cdark money\u201d groups \u2014 hidden from view.<\/p>\n

Many of the legal tussles revolve around interpretation of a crucial civil rights case from 1958: NAACP v. Alabama<\/em><\/a>. Increasingly cited since the landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission<\/em> decision in 2010, today that 58-year-old civil rights case is being trotted out again and again \u2014 in courtrooms, on talk shows, in news articles and in statehouses all over the country.<\/p>\n

Death threats via Twitter<\/h3>\n

The historic Alabama decision \u2014 allowing the NAACP to keep its membership list secret \u2014 was deployed as a key argument in that recent court case.<\/p>\n