The US Supreme Court [official website] on Tuesday denied [text, PDF] an application to block a federal judge’s decision requiring more disclosure from super PACs.

The decision vacates Chief Justice John Roberts’ order to stay the lower court ruling.

The petitioner, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, a conservative political action committee, submitted the application [text, PDF] to stay the district court’s order, arguing that requiring it to disclose information in accordance with the district court judge’s interpretation of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulation would be overly burdensome and violate constitutional protections: “The FEC regulation implements a federal election law provision that balances First Amendment privacy for donors and groups—including Section 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations like Crossroads—that are not political committees but engage in limited activities that address matters of public concern near elections.”

In response [text, PDF], Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said the regulation is not ambiguous, thus Crossroads should be required to disclose additional information about political contributions:

At the heart of Crossroads’s request is its desire to avoid compliance with its unambiguous disclosure obligations under the Federal Election Campaign Act (“FECA”), a request that, if granted, would do immeasurable damage to the American people by “depriving the electorate of donor information that was intended and supposed to be disclosed[.]” … Crossroads’s application appears calculated to deny voters in the next federal election knowledge about “the sources of a candidate’s financial support” before they cast their ballots.

If CREW is successful, super PACs will be hard pressed to comply with the regulation by the upcoming election.