On November 26, 2025, Defending Education filed an amicus brief in conjunction with the State Policy Network and 29 other grassroots organizations in a case currently pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Buckeye Institute v. Internal Revenue Service.

In that case, the Buckeye Institute has challenged the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) mandatory donor disclosure requirements for 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations on First Amendment freedom of association grounds, arguing that the requirement to identify donors who may wish to remain anonymous is a burden on that right and therefore unconstitutional. The IRS’s regulation challenged by the Buckeye Institute also imposes serious burdens on organizations like Defending Education by impacting its ability to engage in genuine issue advocacy and education. By being forced to disclose donor identities and information to the government, the IRS discourages contributions to organizations like the Buckeye Institute, Defending Education, and many others by donors who often do not wish to be publicly identified with potentially controversial issue advocacy and education.

Defending Education therefore has a direct stake in the outcome of this case and we are hopeful that the appellate court will rule correctly.

Read the full amicus brief at below: